Update on blackberry winter survival (three weeks later)… Uncovered Plants - Black Satin (no winter damage). These were low to ground so maybe some snow protection. - Triple crown (some winter damage) - approx. 20% die back). Seem to have handled the winter fine but some dieback, primarily on the thinner canes). - Ouachita (some winter damage) - approx. 10% die back). Almost no dieback…surprising because I thought they would be less hardy than other erect varieties. - Kiowa (significant winter damage - approx. 75% die back). At first I thought these had overwintered well, but two of the four plants didn’t leaf out and the other two were significantly damaged. This variety has had some health problems over the last two years with (2 of 6 previously dying). Since this year’s crop was a loss and I have had problems with this variety in the past, I decided to replace them with a newer, thornless variety: Von Blackberry. - Prime Ark 45 (significant winter damage - approx. 50% die back). Honestly, some of the dieback may be from the primocane fruiting sections from last fall, but what is left seems to be growing well now. I think I’ll make these a primocane only crop after this season. - Wild Treasure Trailing. In ground planting - left uncovered and plant died back to ground. Potted planting (covered) lost most of its cane length. Given space and effort, not sure this variety is worth keeping. - All raspberries were uncovered and nearly all had no noticeable winter damage. I even had a blackhawk black raspberry and two double gold raspberry plants in pots just sitting in the open and both plants are growing really well and blooming. - I did have two canes on the Cascade Delight raspberry that died during the winter but I believe that was partly due to exposed roots from some soil erosion in their raised bed. Covered Plants. - Black Diamond. I decided to give it a reprieve and let it grow again this year but spray it for cane borers. I had to remove all of last year’s growth due to cane borers but this year it has three times as much growth (e.g. canes) and looks healthy. There’s already a 8” of growth this season and that’s a lot for this variety in my climate. - Siskiyou. No winter damage. Both plants look good and have been putting on amazing growth (well, at least amazing compared to my previous attempts). These second year plants each have 5 or more canes and the cane diameter has doubled since last year. The primocanes are already about ½ inch thick (e.g. diameter) and about 12” in length so far. Yeah! Last year’s growth is getting ready to bloom. - Kotata. No winter damage and the plants are growing new canes. I have 2-3 new canes per each plant and there’s about 6-8” of growth so far. Less vigorous growth from these plantings. - Thorny Boysenberry. The non-potted plants suffered the trifecta of cold weather, cane borers, and voles, so I have maybe 10% of the canes from last year but they are getting ready to bloom. I have had problems with leaf spot on these but I gave them a good lime-sulfur spray treatment this spring, so hopefully this will help. New growth has been outstanding with the cane diameter doubling, much like the Siskiyou blackberries, and there are 8-10 canes per planting with 12-18” of growth already. I’m going to do a better job of protecting these in the winter this year. - Marionberry. I lost about 50% of the cane length from the overwintering period but have learned more about what not to do while preparing them for winter. Plants seem fine but not as vigorous as Siskiyou or Boysen but more vigorous than Kotata. - Loganberry. I lost about 75% of the canes on these from cane borers and the cold. These may be the least cold hardy of the trailing berries that I own. The primocanes are growing vigorously though.

It was about 10 inches tall (little thing) and sort of bushy. I did not protect it the first year, and it died down to 6 inches, but now it is just over 2'6"(slow growing, but growing). Some leaves drop in winter. I try to cover it as much as possible with straw, bending it down to fit. Whatever part that was growing dies in winter. This ranges from less than an inch to a couple, the colder the fall the better so that the tree can go dormant before the real cold.

I've grown plenty citrus in pots, for years and years - this will the first winter for my Morton Citrange, Changsha and Arbequenia Olive (ok, that's not a citrus). I got tired of dragging the pots in and out and they are supposed to be hardy for my zone (7b) so this is their test year. I plan on wrapping them in plastic should things get ugly. Next year I will add a sour orange and two Ichang lemons. The sour orange got left out by accident an entire winter when it was a tiny baby plant and it survived some pretty cold temps. The Ichang Lemons have survived for years here at our local arboretum and everyone raves about the flavor.

These are questions that have limited answerability without a lot more information. hardiness zones are based strictly on temps...but soil types, landscape topography, wind or wind breaks, rainfall, all play a part, albeit to a lesser extent than temps, but these are the things you learn in a new location. I've j. conferta for sale locally, and we're z5/6, but there's a lot of variability...North or south ten miles, you move two zones, and there's pockets here and there that can get some mild microclimates. Cephalotaxus, yep. that one is easily hardy another zone colder.