Rubus idaeus 'Heritage' (Everbearing Raspberry)

Heritage is the benchmark everbearing red raspberry, the variety everything else in its class gets measured against. Released by Cornell University in 1969, it has remained a top performer in home and commercial gardens for over fifty years for a straightforward reason: it delivers reliably good-sized, bright red berries with classic tart-sweet raspberry flavor, season after season, with minimal fuss. It is one of the best tasting raspberries in its class.

As a primocane-bearing type, Heritage fruits on the tips of first-year canes from late August through first frost, with the main harvest window running into October in Oregon's coastal climate. The mild falls along the south coast allow this harvest to stretch longer than it would in colder inland areas. Canes can be mowed to the ground each fall, then allowed to regrow from the crown the following spring for a single concentrated fall crop. This is the easiest possible management approach and produces excellent results.

Heritage is notably cold-hardy, tolerating temperatures down to minus 20 degrees F.