Yes, I am also curious about these two varities, especially the Miss Kim. I've only seen this variety offered by Raintree Nursery and England's where it is described as an accidental find in Georgia; and judging from the photo the fruits look enormous! Tehama is listed as hardy only to zone 7, and Miss Kim to 6. If you find any further information please share an update and I'll do the same. I've been diligently searching for low maintenance fruit trees for a decade and today I wonder why I didn't start with the mulberry. After much study it appears that the Illinois Everbearing is a proven winner, taking the hardiness of our native Red (M. Rubra) and combining it with the flavorful European Black (M. Nigra). Our farm has a mature White mulberry tree (M. Alba, non-native but naturalized) that produces tasty, but small, fruit every year without fail. I was pleased to learn this week that an ancient mulberry tree (likely a native Red, M. Rubra) at my grandparents old homestead is still alive. Many fine memories are associated with that tree and its large, tasty fruits. I'll be cloning that tree in the early summer, along with a very old crabapple tree, variety unknown, from the same site. Many thanks for all the input on this forum.

https://www.growingmulberry.org/selectionhow 

Thanks for the reply, I was beginning to think I was the only one here interested in mulberries! Yes, I agree Illinois Everbearing is an awesome variety, I have grafted a number of these over the past two years, along with Silk Hope. They are both vigorous and the berries very very tasty. So far mine average only about an inch in length, but the trees are still very young.

I have grown some seedling mulberries as well, which were pretty disappointing, as well as M. nigra Black Beauty. These BB berries tasted incredible to me and were super juicy, but too tart for the rest of my family. Although surprisingly the trees had no problem with the cold in my zone, they were not super productive, and declined gradually. I'm attributing that to perhaps unknown soil/climate factors that were not up to their liking, as well as suspected graft incompatibility (they were both grafted on M. alba about 3 feet above the ground, and developed a giant bulbous shape just above the graft).

Anyway, I'm happy with IE and SH mulberries, but want to diversify further, even if it means growing some in pots. I just love these fruits!

Good luck with your growing!

I also have fond memories of wild mulberry trees (mostly native rubra) as a kid growing up in NY!

I see that Miss Kim is also sold by Peaceful Heritage. Tehama seems to be perhaps more widely known (or at least cited in the literature), but I can only find it available from Rolling River. In any event, I would still really like to try both of these out (along with Pakistan). I will probably keep them potted and overwinter them in the greenhouse, at least at first, but Miss Kim, and maybe even Tehama could have a shot at surviving in the ground in my zone 6b...

I'm still hoping some other folks out there will know some more about these varieties, or otherwise chime in with mulberry related chatter!

Tehama will not live here in South eastern KY

Thanks for the response about Tehama in KY. I actually ordered Tehama from Rolling River this summer, but they sent me "Big White" instead. I guess I can see the confusion between "Giant White," Tehama's other name, and "Big White." I'm fine with the latter though, since it sounds like a good one, and it should almost certainly be hardy in ground for me.

Can you tell me more about Miss Kim though? Are the fruits really as big as they look in that picture, comparably? Is the tree vigorous, heavy-bearing, cold hardy?

Thanks again for chiming in...

Hi, I’m in Florida zone 9B. I have about 35 varieties. I am a mulberry addict and I travel around Florida collecting cuttings from old trees. All the white varieties have tasted the same to me so far. I haven’t actually tasted Tehama but I know someone that has it and they said it’s just straight sweet with no complexity. I just got 3 Miss Kim cuttings because the guy told me it was the best he had tasted.

Also the old Florida variety called Tice is a nice large delicious mulberry

Thanks for adding to the discussion, fruittreeaddict!

I agree that white ones tend to be just plain sweet, but I still like them from time to time, and they are also great for drying. I plan to get a Miss Kim next spring, and will definitely look into Tice as well.

If you could have only one variety of mulberry, which would you choose, and why?

I'm trying to decide which is the best tasting morus alba. I'm planning to raise silkworms and they prefer the tender morus alba leaves over the others. If I can enjoy the fruit as well it would be an added benefit. Any suggestions?