Home gardeners can successfully grow many small fruits in Iowa. A key to successful fruit growing is to select varieties (cultivars) adapted to your area. Suggested small fruit varieties for home gardens in Iowa are listed below.

Strawberries

Variety	Adaptability to Iowa*	Remarks
June-Bearing Varieties
Earliglow	N,C,S	Medium size berries, very good dessert and freezing quality, excellent early season variety.
Honeoye	N,C,S	Large berries, good dessert quality and very good freezing quality, high yielding variety, susceptible to root diseases.
Kent	N,C,S	Large berries, very good dessert quality and good freezing quality, very cold hardy.
Jewel	N,C,S	Large, bright red berries, very good dessert and freezing quality, susceptible to root diseases.
Surecrop	N,C,S	Medium size berries, good dessert and freezing quality, very dependable.
Redchief	N,C,S	Bears large cone-shaped berries, good dessert quality and very good freezing quality, disease resistant.
Allstar	N,C,S	Very large berries, very good dessert and freezing quality, highly disease resistant.
Lateglow	N,C,S	Large berries, very good dessert and freezing quality, excellent late season variety.
Everbearing/Day-Neutral Varieties
Tribute	N,C,S	Medium to large berries, very good dessert quality and good freezing quality; day-neutral variety.
Tristar	N,C,S	Medium size berries, very good dessert quality and good freezing quality, better flavor than Tribute; day-neutral variety.

*Best adapted to northern (N), central (C), or southern (S) Iowa.

Raspberries

Variety	Adaptability to Iowa*	Remarks
Summer Red Raspberries
Boyne	N,C,S	Medium size berries, plants are very productive and extremely hardy.
Liberty	N,C,S	Medium size berries, fruit don't shatter, plants don't sucker as freely as some reds; an Iowa State University introduction.
Latham	N,C,S	Medium to large berries, plants are extremely vigorous and sucker freely.
Fall Red Raspberries
Heritage	N,C,S	Medium size berries are firm and attractive, very vigorous plants.
Redwing	N,C,S	Fruit are slightly smaller than Heritage, but mature 1-2 weeks earlier, especially adapted to northern Iowa; developed by the University of Minnesota.
Purple Raspberries
Brandywine	N,C,S	Large size berries, but flavor is not as good as Royalty.
Royalty	N,C,S	Large size berries are much sweeter than Brandywine.
Black Raspberries
Black Hawk	C,S	Medium size berries, plants are high yielding, one of the hardiest black raspberries; an Iowa State introduction.
Bristol	C,S	Berries are medium size, firm with good flavor.
Logan	C,S	Berries are medium size and of good quality.

*Best adapted to northern (N), central (C), or southern (S) Iowa.

Grapes

Variety	Adaptability to Iowa*	Remarks
American Types
Van Buren	N,C,S	Blue/black early season variety; table, wine.
Buffalo	N,C,S	Blue/black early to midseason variety; table, juice, jam/jelly.
Price	N,C,S	Blue/black early to midseason variety; table, juice, jam/jelly.
Fredonia	N,C,S	Blue/black midseason variety; table, juice, jam/jelly.
Bath	N,C,S	Blue/black midseason variety; table.
Steuben	N,C,S	Blue/black midseason variety; table, wine.
Delaware	N,C,S	Red midseason variety; wine.
Niagara	C,S	White late season variety; juice, jam/jelly, wine, table.
Concord	C,S	Blue/black late season variety; juice, jam/jelly, wine, table.
Catawba	C,S	Red late season variety; wine, juice, jam/jelly.
Table Grape Types
Reliance	C,S	Red early season seedless variety.
Edelweiss	N,C,S	White early season seeded variety.
Swenson Red	N,C,S	Red early season seeded variety.
Vanessa	C,S	Red midseason seedless variety.
French Hybrids
Foch	C,S	Blue/black early season wine grape.
Leon Millot	C,S	Blue/black early season wine grape.
Aurore	C,S	White early season wine grape.
Seyval Blanc	C,S	White early to midseason wine grape.
Baco Noir	C,S	Blue/black early to midseason wine grape.
de Chaunac	C,S	Blue/black midseason wine grape.

*Best adapted to northern (N), central (C), or southern (S) Iowa.

Blueberries

Variety	Adaptability to Iowa*	Remarks
Bluetta	C,S	Early season variety, medium size berries.
Collins	C,S	Early season variety, medium size berries.
Blueray	C,S	Midseason variety, medium to large berries, very productive.
Jersey	C,S	Midseason variety, small to medium berries, very hardy.
Patriot	C,S	Midseason variety, medium to large berries, consistently produces high yields.
Northblue	N,C,S	Midseason variety, medium size berries, half-high type plant; introduced by the University of Minnesota.
Coville	C,S	Late season variety, large berries.
Elliot	C,S	Late season variety, medium to large berries.

*Best adapted to northern (N), central (C), or southern (S) Iowa.

Blackberries

Variety	Adaptability to Iowa*	Remarks
Darrow	C,S	Erect-type variety, for many years has been best cold hardy variety available; very thorny.
Illini Hardy	C,S	Erect-type variety, very thorny; new release introduced by the University of Illinois.

*Best adapted to northern (N), central (C), or southern (S) Iowa.

Gooseberries

Variety	Adaptability to Iowa*	Remark
Welcome	N,C,S	Light green berries turn pinkish red when fully ripe, plants are nearly thornless.
Pixwell	N,C,S	Berries turn rosy pink when fully ripe, nearly thornless.

*Best adapted to northern (N), central (C), or southern (S) Iowa.

Currants

Variety	Adaptability to Iowa*	Remarks
Perfection	N,C,S	Medium to large berries turn bright red at maturity.
Red Lake	N,C,S	Most widely grown variety, the large berries turn bright red when mature, high yields.
Wilder	N,C,S	Red-fruited variety, berries are slightly smaller than Red Lake but mature earlier.

*Best adapted to northern (N), central (C), or southern (S) Iowa.

This article originally appeared in the April 1, 1992 issue, pp. 1992 issue, pp. 40-43.