For us, these have been very productive and very easy fruits to grow. If you are looking to get a lot of fruit without a lot of effort, these are a good bet in Fairbanks. Their taste is often compared to blueberries, but we really think that has more to do with their appearance than their taste. Their flavor is something all their own - perhaps something like a blueberry, a grape fruit, perhaps something like a passion fruit? 

If you love robins, you will love the fact that lots of robins will be attracted to your honeyberry bushes. They seem to really enjoy the fruit.  If you love the berries, you may need to put netting over them in order to have more fruit to eat yourself.

Honeyberries do like full sun and well drained soil, but they can do OK in other circumstances, partial shade or wetter soil.   One reason that they do alright it wetter areas is that their roots are shallow, but this also means that they do not compete so well with grass. If you are planting them in a lawn, remove sod from an area around the base of the plant.  Also, because the roots are shallow, overfertilizing can burn the roots and damage or even kill the plant.  Stick to gentle fertilizers and don't overdo it. Because honeyberries leaf out and fruit early, they are less affected by shade caused by deciduous trees than some other plants. 

Below we have listed the varieties we have growing in our orchard. 

Varieties

Aurora - huge, super sweet berries. They could easily be harvested by shaking a bush, as they fall readily when ripe. Pairs well with Berry Blue, Tundra and Honeybee and Borealis. 

Berry Blue - Very large, fast growing bushes, tasty fruit. Grows one of the largest bushes. Some sources say that this haskap is at least somewhat self-fertile, although it will produce more and larger fruit if planted with a pollenizer.

Blue Moon - Not as fast growing as Berry Blue, not as early as Kamchatka, not as large and sweet as Aurora.  Better tasting than Borealis, according to some.  A fine, but not remarkable berry

Blue Velvet - these grew very slowly for us, so we dug them up and replaced. Later flowering and ripening than most. 

Boreal Beast - despite it's name, this berry seems to be smaller than beauty or blizzard. It is the most blueberry-like honeyberry we've tasted. Boreal Beast has a long flowering time, which makes it a good pollenizer for  many varieties. Growing all three Boreal berries will give you an extended harvest, as first Blizzard, then Beast then Beauty ripen in succession.

Boreal Beauty - Flowering time overlaps well with Boreal Beast, less well with Boreal Blizzard, as it flowers and ripens a bit later.  A large sweet berry.  It is a sweet and tasty berry, also quite large. Planting  with Beast and Blizzard will provide an extended harvest season. Early indications in our orchard are that Beauty may be a little less hardy that Blizzard and Beast.

Boreal Blizzard, - These are very sweet and tasty berries. They are quite large, by reputation even larger than Aurora, but we haven't really harvested enough to know for sure that that is true. Their flowering time overlaps well with Boreal Beast, less well with Boreal Beauty. Of the Boreal berries, Boreal Blizzard is the first to flower and to ripen. 

Borealis - large, chubby short berries. Excellent flavor. They hang on the bushes better than Aurora. Berry Blue, Aurora and Honeybee are good pollenizers. 

Honeybee - We have some small bushes of this variety - time will tell how well we like them. They are said to be fast growing, large, tall plants which produce large berries.  They are very productive plants and need to have their branches thinned at a younger age and more often then many other honeyberry varieties. They are a good pollenizer for Aurora, Berry blue, Borealis and Tundra.

Indigo Gem - This honeyberry is unusual in that it is self-pollinating, although when it pollinates itself, the berries are smaller, about 0.75 grams instead of their usual 1.25 grams. The bushes are rounded and about 4' in diameter when mature. The branches are spreading and open, making the berries easy to see. Aurora and Honeybee are good pollenizers. The colder-than-usual winter of 2023-2024 seems to have killed many of our Indigo Gem plants, so it may not be a good choice for residents of interior Alaska.

Kamchatka - Very early, productive and tasty. Larger than most, but not as large as Aurora. We have had these ripen in June. 

Tundra - The folks at Big M Farm in Nenana speak highly of these berries, both in terms of taste and productivity.  The berries are larger than Blue Velvet or Blue Moon. They are a good pollenizer for Aurora, Berry Blue and Honeybee. 

There are some wrinkles in pollination of honeyberries, in part because of their flowering times. Here is some information to help you choose a pair that will work well together.

I don't know if I have ever before laughed aloud while reading an article of botanical interest, but this one really made me laugh. So, here it is: Haskap Rumours by Bob Bors