these perennials as a fruit-filled privacy fence. Plant biologist Emily Estep has rounded up all the information you need to keep these shrubs healthy, happy, and covered in berries.

There’s just something special about raspberries. They’re sweet and tart at the same time, and they’re healthy, too, packed with antioxidants and fiber. The only problem is that they’re small and expensive, lasting only a few days in the fridge. Thankfully, it’s easy to grow your own.

‘Fall Gold’ raspberry bushes are just like regular raspberries, except the fruits are a beautiful shade of golden yellow. Their sweet flavor is somewhat reminiscent of honey, or perhaps that’s just the placebo effect of their color. Either way, they add unexpected color and flavor to the garden.

This everbearing cultivar fruits twice per year, leading to multiple harvests. With a little bit of strategic pruning, these perennial shrubs will provide delicious fruit for years, spreading into berry patches with suckers.

These perennials thrive in much of the United States. If you’ve seen wild raspberries on nearby hikes, chances are this cultivar will flourish in your backyard. Here’s everything you need to know about how to plant, grow, and care for ‘Fall Gold’ raspberry bushes.
What Is It?
‘Fall Gold’ raspberry bushes standout among other cultivars of the popular fruit-bearing bramble bush for two reasons. One, their “berries” ripen to a dark yellow or gold instead of red. Two, these shrubs are everbearing, which means that each cane will produce two crops, one in fall followed by a second in the upcoming early summer.

While many raspberry varieties only offer fruit once, usually in late summer or early fall, ‘Fall Gold’ gives you the chance to harvest at multiple times during the year. The fall fruits will emerge from the top third of the canes, and then in the following year around June, more fruits will emerge from the bottom two thirds of the canes.

It’s crucial that you do not remove these canes entirely after their fall fruiting. They will produce more fruit in the next growing season on the bottom of the canes.

Characteristics
‘Fall Gold’ raspberry bushes are perennial shrubs, though the thorny canes are biennial, surviving for two years before dying off. This cultivar is known for its delicious fruits, which are not actually berries. Botanically speaking, they are aggregate fruits made of many small drupes.

In addition to fruit, this Rubus species has a lot to offer to local wildlife. The flowers attract all sorts of pollinators, including bees and butterflies, while the fruit and habitat benefit both small mammals and birds. These medium-sized shrubs also make a great barrier or privacy fence.

This cultivar is self-fruiting, meaning you do not need a second plant to assist the first in pollination. That said, you will probably want to plant multiple shrubs to maximize your harvests.

Native Area
R. idaeus raspberries fall into two categories: those that are native to Eurasia and those that are native to North America. Over time, growers have cultivated and hybridized various subspecies of raspberries to make many types of berries, including ‘Fall Gold,’ making its “native area” blurry at best.

Broadly, raspberries are native to mild, temperate areas with four distinct seasons, moderate rainfall, and average humidity levels. This makes ‘Fall Gold’ among other subspecies and cultivars perennial in USDA hardiness zones 5 through 8. They can survive winters that dip down to temperatures around -20°F (-29°C).

They can survive hot summers, too, but temperatures consistently above 95°F (35°C) will seriously stunt growth. The summer weather in zone 9 and in even hotter regions is usually too much for raspberries.

Planting
‘Fall Gold’ shrubs will perform best directly in the ground since they get fairly large. If you want a lot of fruit, you’ll need to plant a lot of shrubs. One mature shrub may produce a few pounds of fruit, but the “berries” are very small. If you want a lot of them, you’ll need to plant at least a few individuals.

You can also try growing a few plants in a large container, or you can try starting a young shrub in a container and ultimately transplanting it into the ground. In areas with particularly heavy clay soil, you can also grow these raspberries in raised beds. Just consider that they mature to about 2 feet in width and 5 feet in height when planning.

The best time to transplant is in late winter or in early spring, once the soil is workable and when the plant is just coming out of dormancy and starting to grow. Note that you may not get a June crop the first year, but a successful transplant should fruit in fall.