Best Asparagus Varieties for Scotland

An asparagus bed can crop for fifteen to twenty years, so the variety you plant is a long commitment. The biggest difference between varieties is sex: female plants put energy into berries and seedlings rather than spears, so all-male varieties crop more heavily and don't litter the bed with volunteers. In Scotland, hardiness and timing come next.

What Scotland means for the choice

The hardiness ratings split these varieties in two. H4The RHS's H1a–H7 scale for how much cold a plant can survive outdoors, H1a being tender indoor-only and H7 hardy anywhere in the UK. Full definition → means hardy to between -10°C and -5°C, but not reliably in inland valleys, at altitude or in central and northerly locations, which covers much of Scotland. H5 means hardy to between -15°C and -10°C, even in severe winters. Frost also damages the tender new spears in spring, so an early variety carries more risk on a frost-prone site than a later one. The asparagus growing guide covers soil, drainage, planting crownsThe base of a perennial plant where roots and shoots meet, often sold and planted as a ready-made dormant plant rather than grown from seed. Full definition → and when to start cutting.

Gijnlim, Guelph Millennium, Backlim and Connover's Colossal hold the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGMThe RHS's Award of Garden Merit: a UK-wide trials award for reliable performance, not a Scotland-specific recommendation. Full definition →), a UK-wide award rather than a Scottish one.

Gijnlim

Gijnlim is a prolific, early-season, all-male variety with the AGM, the default for a sheltered garden. Being early gives the longest cutting season, but its H4 rating and early spears make it less suited to a cold, exposed or frost-prone plot.

Guelph Millennium, Pacific 2000 and Mondeo, for cold plots

All three are all-male and rated H5. Guelph Millennium is vigorous, gives abundant harvests and holds the AGM, so it's the first choice for a cold site. Pacific 2000 has exceptionally well-flavoured, stringless green spears and crops relatively late, so its new spears are less likely to meet a spring frost. Mondeo is "highly resistant to disease" and crops in late spring; it does best in a sheltered, south-facing spot, so give it the most sheltered corner of a cold plot.

Backlim, Connover's Colossal and Vittorio

Backlim is an all-male AGM variety cropping mid to late season: a later alternative to Gijnlim, though with the same H4 hardiness. Connover's Colossal is a tried-and-trusted heritage variety with a large crop, but it sets seed, so you'll be pulling volunteer seedlings every year. Vittorio is earthed up as it grows to produce blanchedExcluding light from part of a growing plant, usually by earthing up, wrapping or covering, so it grows pale, tender and less bitter. Full definition → white spears; there's no hardiness or disease detail for it. Jersey Knight is also sold, described as a very heavy cropper with good disease resistance.

Which one for your situation

• A sheltered plot, and the earliest crop: Gijnlim.
• A cold, exposed or upland plot: Guelph Millennium, or Pacific 2000.
• A frost pocketA low-lying spot where cold air drains and pools on still nights, making it noticeably more frost-prone than the surrounding area. Full definition →: Pacific 2000, which crops relatively late.
• Disease has been a problem: Mondeo.
• A heritage bed: Connover's Colossal.
• White asparagus: Vittorio.

Variety makes no difference to slugs, which go for young spears, or the asparagus beetle, which strips the summer foliage. Root rot comes from wet, poorly drained soil, so the site matters more than the variety there.

Common questions

Sources