I felt compelled to respond: This is the question that first brought me to GardenWeb about 6 years ago!

Unfortunately, there aren't any raspberries for Houston. It is my understanding that Texas A&M is working to find a variety that will work here.

I've never understood why black berries grow so well, and raspberries can't survive.... I figured they were closely related.

I'd love to have some black raspberries! But alas, I have to bum them off my mom when I go home to Illinois every year.

awwwwwww now i am sad :( I do already have some blackberries planted this past year, 2 of 5 of them have really taken off the other 3 look like duds, thanks for the answer though

Brazos Blackberry is the good one for down this way. They get the size of you thumb and are very sweet. If you check around they came be picked up as cuttings for a much smaller fee then a plant. I would love to see any raspberry makes fruit here.
Paul

The garden experts around here say that raspberries are mostly a lost cause in south/central Texas. Aggies recommends Dorman Red if you absolutely have to have some. They also say they are not a great tasting berry, but will generally survive. They require a trellis. I did some research and found "Baba" raspberries which were found growing wild in Los Angeles. They are an erect variety that is claimed to do well in the heat. I put two plants in in January (I am in San Antonio/Austin area). They produced close to 100 berries their first year and as of now are still alive and about 5 feet tall. Only time will tell if they will survive long term, but they were very, very tasty berries and I am really hoping they survive! They get about 6-7 hours of sun (from approx. 9:30 to 4:30). I bought them from Bay Laurel Nursery in California. All the plants I ordered from them at the same time were of excellent quality and are doing well. So, if you have to have raspberries, you might consider them. They are very diffcult to find though. Order them between now and early fall to ensure you get plants for very early spring. I had them shipped as early as possible in January so they could get established before the heat. Having the cooler spring this year really helped. I can't wait for fall as they should produce a small crop then also.

I know this is an older post, but would like to bump it up to see if there is any more information on the Baba raspberries.

I found some Dormans at a local nursery last year and brought some plants home. The berries were beautiful, but had absolutely NO flavor whatsoever. They didn't even have a taste. Very strange berries. Even the birds didn't want them.

Thanks,

noss

I bought a Dorman last year. It has done very well for me. THe berries have to be almost past ripe to get a decent flavor. I had to put bird netting over mine, as the birds decided they tasted pretty good too.

that's strange. I bought a "Willamette" at home depot and had a few fruit. it came back after the following winter, but it suckered too much for my liking, so i pulled it out before it could produce fruit again.