Olympic Berry

Rubus x loganobaccus ‘Phenomenal’ x leucodermis

Once so popular that the Seattle Times called it “the most outstanding berry of the Northwest”, this large, blackberry-family fruit was developed in the 1920s on Vashon Island. WWII and a death in the family took a toll on the growers, and the Olympic faded into relative obscurity, but Raintree has brought it back for its exquisite flavor, described as “a startling sweetness, an almost buttery richness and just the necessary slight hint of tang”. A productive cultivar, it was a cross between Luther Burbank’s novel Phenominal berry (a blackberry/raspberry cross), and our PNW native blackcap raspberry.

Olympic berry is a trailing variety with thorny canes, fruiting on the previous year’s growth. To Zone 7 or possibly colder.