The 2-foot-tall planter bed will be fine for raspberries that can get root rot more easily when planted in the ground. It should contain the runners also. It occurs to me that raspberries already 2 feet above ground level and in the center of a 5-foot wide bed might be difficult to pick without a small ladder. You could plant the raspberries within a foot of the bed edge. Any of the varieties offered by Raintree nursery would be worthwhile.

Mine are in a low planter cut into a bit of a slope, a few runners have escaped but are easily dealt with. I grow my raspberry canes horizontally along wires at a comfortable height for picking. We grow "Tulameen" huge berries but personally I think the flavor of "Willamette" is a little better, just my opinion :). My planter has a T-bar at each end with a spreader board down the middle. The new canes are left to grow inside the wires, in the fall after the old canes are cut out the new ones are woven along the wires.

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Annette

Thank you, both! Great recommendations. We were thinking of training and tying them to t shape supports, and having them form a bit of a v. We should have walking access all the way around the bed. I was going to see if my hubby could build steps along the front and back to make getting them easier. Maybe I'll have the bed be just a foot and a half tall. Would it be strange to do a mix of ever bearing and the other together? Or should I have them separated by two beds side by side?

Regular bearing and everbearing raspberries are usually pruned and maintained differently. The problem with planting them in one bed is that raspberries tend to spread over the years (although they can be shovel-pruned to stay in one row). So they would tend to eventually mix together in one narrow bed, unless you really kept after them, and it would be hard to tell the varieties apart for pruning purposes.

Gotcha. That was kinda my thoughts as well, actually. Will separate them with two completely individual beds. I have a space that is running east to west where I will be planting them. Do you think that is okay?

...just now seeing your last question.

Compass directions are not critical for home raspberries, although north-south alignment is usually recommended so that ripe fruit on one side of the row is not scorched by the sun all day. This is more of a blackberry problem than a raspberry one. Research to see if your berry variety is prone to sun damage.