Purple Passion is claimed to be extra tasty. I have one little surviving plant so I can't attest for myself.

I've grown everything from seed-grown crowns dug from the wild in roadside ditches to the all-male "Jersey" type cultivars, and to me, they all taste pretty much the same. The all-male cultivars do have the advantage of having thicker spears, but they have the disadvantage, in my opinion, of NOT forming berries and self-sowing. Over the years, I've dug up a whole lot of asparagus seedlings which the birds sowed in wierd places, like flowerbeds or cracks in the sidewalk, and moved them into my patch to add to it.

I have both jersey giants and purple passion. I like them both about equally but some people have raved over the purple passion.

Yes, the females reseed EVERYWHERE but the males are much more productive. Out of 50 plants I wound up with around 8 females. I yanked all the females 2 yrs ago because they became such a weed. So obviously, I prefer the males over the females.

They are all so much better fresh out of the garden than anything you can buy in a store. I like both purple passion and the Jersey strains. The secret is to break them off and run back to the house and into a waiting pot of water.

Glad to hear the Jersey Strains are good. I picked up two bags of them at Wal Mart of all places this past weekend. 5 two year old male crowns per bag for $3.96...I figured I would give it a whirl...

Thanks everyone! I think I will go for the Jersey Knight and purple passion because those are the ones that are most available. I have good soil and good drainage, so now I just have to wait . . . .

I appreciate your input.

I'll second or third the nomination for purple passion.

All home grown asparagus is super tasty and can be eaten fresh without no cooking necessary, but that is doubbly true for purple passion. Just break it off and it eat it! It doesn't get any better than that.