Those of you who grow mulberries, what are your favorite varieties? Are there any that you didn't particularly care for? Do you taste a lot of difference between varieties that it's worth having a few different ones in your garden? Thanks! :-)

I have grown a Black Persian mulberry (morus niger) for over thirty years. It’s my favorite: big juicy black berries with a delicious blend of sweet and tang. You have to wait until they’re fully black for them to be ripe with their best taste. Yes, the birds like them too, but there is enough for all. I also have two new Black Beauties, but the first time berries were really small last year and fell off before they were ripe. They stay bush size. The Pakistan mulberry was longer and thinner, but was almost dry with some hint of sweetness but little juice or acid taste -sort of bland. I also have a white mulberry which is similar in shape and taste to the Pakistan mulberry, only white. I think it’s a Shangri-La. My Kokusa hasn’t had any berries yet.

Search this forum with "mulberries" and you will get many threads talking about mulberries (OT- Off -Topic post).

I'm growing both the Pakistan Mulberry (which is black) and Saharnpoor Mulberry (which is white) they are both supposed to be 3-5 inches long.
Heven't had enough to really evaluate the taste and worthiness.

Also, found another variety locally grown by a MiddleEastern guy and got cuttings from him, they are white and around 2 inches long and on a thicker side with a light purple blush when fully ripe. I have tasted them from his house and the taste was amazing. Hope to be able to root..he has never succeeded in propagating. He says he tried air-layer and cutting , both failed. Hope to have a better luck myself.

I'm currently looking for a variety that I had tasted in both Lebanon and Azerbaijan, not sure what the name is. It is a bit furry, and can't shake the tree to harvest the berries, have to individually cut them off, has great looking huge and rough leaves. The taste is very high contrast between Tart and Sweet. The size is between 1 and 1.5 inches and thicknss is more or less like a adult thumb. Color is very bright red , which would be more sour and deep red to towards purple black more sweeter but still with a tangle underlying taste. ** If anyone knows this variety and can provide info about where to get from or can share cuttings I would be greatly thankful.

I grow about 10 cultivars. Except for couple cultivars this is based in just 1 or 2 years tasting most, so only my experience so far. I spent half my youth in fenceline large trees of I assume Rubra I love the tart/sweet combination of Mulberry. So ones that are just sweet are bland to me, but maybe not to others.  Really Mullberry an ignored gem by many that may have only tasted a bland Alba.

Morus Nigra (Black Mulberry) is pretty universally considered the best tasting species, but it limited where it grows well. I have a Black Beauty alive still, but it isn’t real vigorous but did survive 0F last year. Morus Nigra doesn’t like my Southeast climate, many nursery state this so no surprise.

Pakistan great taste large size, but not real hardy. I lost both my trees last winter one was fairly established with about a 4 inch diameter trunk.

Illinois Everbearing very popular very good taste is a hybrid between Rubra X Alba. Cold hardy and put out fruit over a long period. Very good for Grazer like me that likes to eat straight from tree on daily basis, maybe not best if you want large harvest at one time to process. Silk Hope supposed to be similar I want to try it.

Shangri La Is not white it is a dark Berry like all other I have. Very good  if not allowed to ripen fully while berry still is shiny, if fully ripe sweet with no tart Early fruiting in year for me.

Middleton very similar to Shangri La maybe larger and better but last year was 2^nd year plant from cutting and 1^st fruiting so things may change

Girardi Dwarf. Really unique plant. I have seen spelled about 3 ways but it is a true dwarf very close node spacing so compact and lots of fruit packed on small package. Fruit is good as well. Seems very hardy. More folks should look at this one as besides Nigra which often has a bush form, most Mulberry  grow large and  vigorous and lots of pruning to keep fruit in reach.   Girardi taste still very good but maybe not the wow of some, but those of you limited on space here she is.

Kokuso No. 20  looking forward to trying this one this Year have heard good things This will be 2^nd year from cutting.

Wassica  Mine seems very upright growth,  trying to prune and spread her out this year   Last year was 1^st only tasted limlted fruit.

I have a couple unknowns new this year as well.  Propagated trees from Just Fruits and Exotics that were on sale as had lost Labels so will try a determine when they fruit based on their offerings.

As far as wild trees almost all Rubra trees taste good. Rubra is the only native Mulberry to U.S, but you are almost more likely to find Naturalized Alba trees whose taste varies from very bland to pretty good. Alba and Rubra hybridize so there are likely a lot hybrids of them out there as both cultivars seed about freely . Alba is a pest tree in many areas

I have a few varieties and I have tried several in different locations. 
Illinois everbearing is a great tasting one, but the tree is very vigorous, it's difficult to reach them up high. They don't drop off the tree like other varieties.
Collier, is black and very delicious with good sweet/acid balance. ripens over 2-3 weeks. 
Greece, a tasty white variety, that is fatter than most varieties.
I have a few in pots that are not hardy that taste excellent. The Pakistan is not hardy in Pa, although I was able to graft it on a wild one and it grew for a couple years but dies back with single digits.

There are a few local ones I found in the area that I'm propagating. 

Bass, do you keep some of these less hardy varieties in a pot just for a few years until they are stronger or for the entire life of the tree? How long does it take for them to start producing high quality fruit? Which varieties can be grown in pots? I had no idea this was even a possibility :).

I've grafted less hardy varieties on existing trees and they will die back just above the graft and sprout back and fruit. Since fruiting occurred on new growth I was able to taste them. In pots I have a few grafted or rooted types that are not completely hardy. One of the most unique one that I have is Shamé from Syria. It looks different than most varieties and ripens later than any mulberry. Has a sour/ sweet flavor.
Morus Nigra varieties are hardy up to zone 7 possibly.

Black Beauty mulberry stays bush like and small at around four feet. I'm growing one in a pot and the other in the ground. Shangri La is a slow grower to 20 feet and perhaps could be trained to stay small and bush like, although its large leaves would get crowded. Mine showed no growth at all last year.
This website claims to prune the Black Persian back and keep it productive at a shorter size, which would work for pot culture:
 
"The Persian Fruiting Mulberry and the Black Beauty Fruiting Mulberry are really just fast growing bushes.  For years we grew them in a tree form by grafting them on top of a 5 foot "standard".  In recent years, we heeded the demand to make the fruit easier to pick by lowering the tree form to a 4 foot standard and also to grow them in a bush form.  You know "Ring around the Mulberry Bush" kind of form.  Seems to be popular as quantities continue to increase dramatically."
http://www.lecooke.com/cms/le-cooke-blog/Persian-Black-Beauty-Fruiting-Mulberries.html
  
My Pakistan mulberries are just beginning to put out green immature berries with the recent warm February weather.

In Altadena, Southern California 

I'm actually really excited to learn that mulberries can be grown in bush form in pots! Thanks for sharing Bass and AltadenaMara!