Selecting
Gooseberry Bush Varieties
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When selecting your gooseberry bush variety you will need to consider
- Whether you want gooseberries for cooking or eating fresh. The best choice is often to get a variety which serves both purposes (pick for culinary use early in the season and then allow to ripen before picking for dessert use)
- Whether you have any preference for berry colour. They are available in yellow, red, white and green.
- It is also useful to know whether the bush is thorny or spineless, whether it is susceptible to American gooseberry mildew and what growing conditions it requires.
Dessert/Culinary Gooseberry Bush Varieties
Invicta (left) - large pale green berries. Ready for picking late July. Gives very high yields as a bush or as a cordon. Very prickly and vigorous. Award of Garden Merit.
Whinhams Industry - deep red berries. Ready for picking late July. Excellent flavour and vigorous growth. Good in the shade and on heavy soil. Will require spraying against American gooseberry mildew. Award of Garden Merit.
Culinary Gooseberry Bush Varieties
Careless - a very popular culinary variety which is widely available. Very reliable and suitable for most growing conditions. Excellent for culinary use but susceptible to American gooseberry mildew. Pale green fruit.
Greenfinch - disease resistant culinary variety which gives a very good early yield of smooth green fruit.
Dessert Gooseberry Bush Varieties
Pax - a dark red dessert variety which is virtually spineless. Resistant to American gooseberry mildew. Berries are large and sweet. Open vigorous bushes.
Leveller - this very popular dessert variety gives high yields of pale green fruit but requires a good soil. The fruit is very large, oval and downy. It is both pretty and has an exceptional flavour.
All above pictures reproduced courtesy of Thompson & Morgan.
Sources of Further Advice - Raspberry Bush Varieties
BBC Gardening - Growing Gooseberry Bushes - advice on all aspects of choosing & growing gooseberries.
Chris Bowers & Sons - Descriptions of a range of gooseberry bushes.
Other Pages about Gooseberry Bushes
Gooseberry Plants - Six Best Sites
Gooseberry Plants - Planting & Care
