Rubus idaeus Meeker - Raspberry

The 'Meeker' Raspberry is a classic variety that produces large, red and fragrant fruits. It is a non-remontant variety, ideal for abundant harvests in July. The fruit is medium-sized, firm, and dark red. It is a particularly vigorous plant, with many suckers, and resistant to powdery mildew.

The 'Meeker' Raspberry belongs to the Rosaceae family. It is a cousin of blackberries and wild roses. The wild raspberry is native to Europe and temperate Asia, where it grows in cool climates alongside elderberry, beech, or mountain ash, especially in wooded areas, but also in lowlands.

'Meeker' is a selected cultivar from the United States. It is a deciduous bush with upright stems, forming a bush about 1.50m (4ft 11in) in all directions over time. The stems are biennial, with each one dying after fruiting. It spreads from a perennial, sucker-producing stump, which produces new stems armed with small, prickles every year. It has green leaves on the top, white-green and downy on the underside. The flowering is highly attractive to bees. The small white flowers are grouped in small clusters of 10 to 12, and appear in April-May. The fruits are formed by small, aggregated drupes, not adherent to the receptacle*, easily detached when ripe. The fruiting is abundant in July. The fruits are best consumed fresh, right after picking, as they do not keep well and should be consumed or quickly transformed into jam, for example. The production reaches its normal level in the third year after planting. One plant can produce fruit for several years; usually around 10 years.

*This non-adherence is actually a distinguishing feature between raspberries in the broad sense and blackberries (such as Rubus fruticosus, our European blackberry), which have the receptacle attached to the fruit.