Royalty Raspberry vs Chester Thornless Blackberry
Rubus x Royalty
Rubus fruticosa Chester (Thornless)
Royalty Raspberry is a productive and delicious red-purple raspberry. It is a cross between a red raspberry and a black raspberry. Ripening in late August, the berries are ideal for homemade jams, preserves, and fresh eating.
If you are going for more of a classic red raspberry taste, pick the berries early. But if they are left on the cane until they are purple the taste will be sweeter.
Royalty Raspberry is a floricane variety, meaning that it only produces berries on second-year canes. Do not cut this variety to the ground and only prune away dead canes as needed.
This very popular extra large berried variety was developed at Cornell University.
Chester Thornless Blackberry is a self-pollinating fruit-bearing shrub. In mid-summer, the Chester Thornless Blackberry produces large, sweet-tasting, heart-shaped blackberries that are perfect for fresh eating. It is a semi-erect blackberry plant that requires little support from a trellis to keep its fruit off the ground. Don't forget to protect your berries. The birds love this shrub almost as much as you will.
Chester Thornless Blackberries are floricanes, primarily fruiting on second year canes. Each spring cut back all two-year old canes, leaving only the last year’s growth.