When Higgins was introduced in 1955, it was a whole new day for muscadines! The first variety to combine large berry size with terrific berry flavor, it quickly became the favorite. Nearly 60 years later, it is still going strong, and we're happy to make it available for your garden this season!
These beautiful round berries ripen to a glowing, pink-tinged shade of bronze. Expect them to reach 1 to 1½ inches in diameter -- quite large by muscadine standards, and protected from cracking by their thick, aromatic skins. They are ready to harvest in early fall -- late in muscadine season, and a spectacular finish to the year!
Higgins is a very vigorous vine, as you would expect of an American native. The foliage on this deciduous vine is handsome from spring through fall, and spring brings a few flowers (not too ornamental, but important for attracting the bees that carry the pollen!). Train this vine up a grape arbor, pergola, or back fence; it grows quickly in full sun and any well-drained soil.
Higgins is a female, so should be planted within 25 feet of a self-fertile variety such as <#prodlink#"35751">Southland. Both varieties will fruit heavily this way, and you'll get two kinds of muscadines for even more delicious wine, pies, and juice!
Bred from the old variety Yuga plus a male pollinator, Higgins offers good disease resistance but is a bit more sensitive to cold; keep it mulched if you live on the northern edge of its hardiness range. The vine reaches 30 feet or more long if unpruned. Zones 6-10.
