Raspberry Lulu la Sucrée - Rubus idaeus

The 'Lulu la Sucrée' summer raspberry is a rediscovered heritage variety, prized for its sweet and aromatic red raspberries. This non-repeat flowering variety offers a single harvest in early summer. Easy to grow in fertile, light, and well-drained soil, it is best planted in trained rows to aid picking. It is self-fertile and hardy, a reliable choice for fruit hedges and the family kitchen garden.

Raspberries should be eaten soon after picking, as they do not keep for long. Transform them into coulis, sorbets, jellies or jams. They freeze very well without losing their flavour or fragrance. Production reaches its normal level in the third year after planting. A well-maintained plant can produce for about ten years.

The 'Lulu la Sucrée' raspberry originates from the garden of a certain "Aunt Lulu". The plant was spotted by a customer from Béarn at the Daniel Duret Nurseries, who propagated and distributed it under the name 'Lulu la sucrée' after being unable to identify it among known varieties.
The plant has an upright to slightly spreading habit, rapid growth and canes reaching 1.50 m to 2 m, with small thorns. The deciduous foliage is formed of 3 to 7 leaflets, medium green on top, paler and sometimes furry underneath. The small white spring flowers are hermaphrodite and nectar-rich.
'Lulu la Sucrée' produces red, ovoid to conical, medium-sized berries with a distinct aroma, sweet with a hint of acidity. The harvest spreads over 4 to 6 weeks, from June to July, depending on the region. After harvesting, cut the canes that have fruited back to the base, keeping 6 to 8 vigorous young canes per plant.

Raspberry belongs to the Rosaceae family, like strawberry plants, the common bramble of our countryside and the dog rose. The wild raspberry is native to Europe and temperate Asia, where it grows in cool climates alongside black elder, common beech or rowan trees, mainly in mountain woodlands, but also in lowland areas.