We  are now picking Raspberries.

Remember to call for picking conditions.

This year's raspberry crop will be very limited due to an unusually wet spring and our low spray philosophy, so call before you come.

There will be no fall Raspberries this year.

Varieties available to pick.

Summer Red Raspberries July 8- August 15

Reveille
Tulameen
Latham
Chilouweck

Summer Yellow Raspberry July 15 - August 15

Honey Queen

Summer Purple Raspberries August 1 - August 15

Royalty
Brandywine



Fall Red Raspberries - August 15 - End of September

Ruby
Autumn Bliss
Redwing
Nordic
Boyne


Fall Yellow Raspberries - August 15 - End of September

Fall Gold
Golden Harvest

Some Raspberry History

The scientific name of raspberries is Rubus ideaus, and according to legend, is derived from Mt. Ida in Greece. It was there that the Greek gods went to get raspberries. The Greeks used blackberries as early as 370 BC. Modern botanists fail to find wild raspberries on Mt. Ida and postulate that perhaps they came from the Ide mountains of Turkey. 

The Romans cultivated raspberries in the 4th century. Original materials were, of course, selections from the wild. Over time gardeners selected fruit with superior taste, size and color. By the 16th century raspberries could be found in European gardens. Raspberries became prominent in the late 1800's and early 1900's. 

Native raspberries, as well as blackberries, blueberries, and other berries, were abundant in forest clearings in North America and played an important role in Native American diets. Raspberries also had value as medicinal plants; the roots of the red raspberry were made into an eyewash, and the fruit itself was used as a flavoring for medicine. European colonists also used berries as ingredients in purgatives and laxatives.

Much progress was made when raspberries of North American origin were crossed with raspberries of European origin. By 1867 over 40 different varieties were known. 

The name raspberry could have come from the fruit's sharp rasping flavor, the rasp like thorny canes, or the Anglo-Saxon word "resp," meaning shoot or sucker. Raspberries belong to the Rose family. Can you imagine sending a friend a bunch of raspberries instead of a dozen roses?

© 2007 George Hill Orchards
P.O. Box 1181
582 George Hill Road
Lancaster, MA 01523
Phone: (978) 365-4331
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