I've not grown Cheddar but I've eaten it and it's delcious. Far nicer then white cultivars imo. Also like the flavour of Romanesco.

Cheddar and Snowbowl are my go to varieties. I've planted them in April to harvest in June, and then plant again in July to harvest late September / October. I've had decent luck with graffiti, yet almost none with non-hybrid whites and romanesco. Although I had no success with cauliflower in general, until I put in a 3' tall raised bed - that you can see in the background here. This bed is the only place I grow them now. :)

Good luck - It's sooo much better homegrown. :)

I grew some purple this winter and it seemed pretty bland, plus the fun color went away when cooked.

Spring cauliflower is horrible for me in Wisconsin. Not worth bothering. The plants offered for sale around here are normally started too early and so potbound that they end up not growing well so the head forms with little plant. Result is a tiny head.

Starting plants on my own is far superior but spring planting cauliflower here is fickle as the succes of the crop depends on how hot our nights are. Too hot day and night and I don't get big plants. No big plants means no big head formed.

I gave up and only suggest fall crop in my area. If the crop times out just right and heads out early October we get a nice crop. Once it was late and we had warm temps to early november. My plants didn't all make it in time but the crop can be quite nice when they do.

Cheddar is desired by many but it takes a much longer growing season to finish off and comes in much later as a fall crop than snow crown.

I guess to answer your initial question, success in growing cauliflower and what variety works best may depend on where you live and if growing for a spring or fall crop.

apples - funny you mention cheddar being later. It is supposed to be the earliest I grow at about 60 days. Well - 3 years in a row -all 4 varieties I grew in the spring came in AT THE SAME TIME - even though the DTM ranged from 60-95 days. So much for spreading the harvest over time. Had to hurry up and eat, blanch and freeze a lot of cauliflower!! lol.

I gave up and only suggest fall crop in my area. If the crop times out
just right and heads out early October we get a nice crop.

A county extension agent advised me to grow cauliflower for fall crops in this climate (New York, zone 5b or 6a), setting out transplants in July. This year I will not be able to maintain seedlings into July so I may set them out at the end of June.

And I will be planting some Fioretto 70, a "sprouting cauliflower." It's new to me so I can't comment on it, but here is the vendor's photo:

They (Johnny's) warn that it is difficult to grow (so why on earth would I want to try it?) and not tolerant of extreme heat.

Cauliflower Amazing in my edible garden, my favourite:

Did not have much luck, Cauliflower is always a magnet for mammal and insect root pests for me. Groundhog really goes after these. Cheddar died early from root pests.

Hybrid I was sold as simply "Broccoflower" was very easy to form heads. Might be 'Vitaverde'?

Planted a couple normal Romanesco, one survived and the plant is very tall. No sign of a head yet.

Planted a couple Orbit F1, a Romanesco hybrid, was really chewed badly by animals, then I protected with a cone of "rabbit fence" and heads are forming on both even though the plants were damaged.

Got a normal Romanesco to grow and this is what I got. Also had two Orbit F1 which I should have picked very small, since they got much worse after the pic above. Not sure if it was the heat but these are not very good picked in summer.