I live in Zone 5b north central Ohio, too. I have both black raspberries and blackberries. My black raspberries are great tasting, and grow in only partial sun. They aren't big producers but we enjoy what we get. Two years ago I planted 5 Ouachita blackberries in full sun. They are listed as zone 5 in some catalogs, and zone 6 in others. Last year I got my first harvest. Not huge but I was very pleased for my first year of production. My 6-year-old son prefers the flavor of the black raspberries to the Oachitas. I think we probably picked the Ouachitas too early, should have waited til they lost a little of their glossiness. I liked them, though. We'll see if the Ouachitas survive the two inches of ice they received in our most recent storm! My friend who lives around the corner from me has had good success with Navaho blackberries. Again, she may be pushing the zone a little bit, but hasn't had any trouble with winter kill. They are very productive and sweet. I grew a Black Satin blackberry in a former home in the same town on the south side of an attached, unheated garage and never had any trouble with winter kill. This summer I'm expanding my blackberry horizons by adding a Loch Ness, a thorny boysenberry, and two Black Pearl blackberries. I plan on laying the boysenberry and Black Pearl primocanes on the ground in the fall and mulching them well, as I know it gets too cold around here, for the Black Pearl especially! Good luck with whatever you choose - you are sure to enjoy either or both. MK

Hi Gator- That's interesting. That's the first negative comment I've seen on Doyle flavor. I've always seen people saying they're almost as good as Triple Crown. We'll see how mine turn out. I would never plant a thorned variety when there are so many good thornless varieties. Even if they did taste 10% better, (and I've never found any literature which confirms that thorned varieties are routinely taste better than thornless) the thorns still wouldnÂt be worth it to me. -Glenn P.S. Note sure what " if Doyle don't lock jaws they want lock" meant. Hi Homertherat- Do not cut your canes down to a foot high. If you do that, you will never get berries! Blackberries produce fruit on last years canes. -Glenn

Does anyone know where I can get some organic Blackberry plants in or near Santa Monica? I am willing to buy them, or I can trade Pitaya(Dragon Fruit) magenta or white fleshed plant cuttings for them. I'd like to get the largest most mature plant I can buy( not a tiny thing from an internet nursery; although maybe some of them sell large plants?). Also, can I plant them now in a pot, -- I have a balcony, east facing( direct light til 10:45am, indirect light after) near Bundy and Santa Monica Blvd( on the border of Santa Monica and West LA). Thank you, ~Diana(310)936-3150

Been awhile since someone left a comment, but I thought I'd add mine. This was a great year for me and my brambles. A mild winter (only to -17F) and good snow cover plus agribon allowed about 50% of the canes on my Wild Treasure, Black Diamond and Marion to survive. Picked a total of 7 1/2 pounds of blackberries (mostly from very tasty Wild Treasure). I played with leaving row cover on until they began flowering and that helped hasten harvest by two weeks. Wild Treasure (pictured above) and Black Diamond started ripening around the first of August, Marion about 10 days later. I got nearly a full crop off of Wild Treasure by Labor Day weekend - a first for me, especially considering the very cool summers here (761 growing degree days, base 50F, this year). Wasps stayed away due to excessive amounts of rain - 3 times what usually falls in summer - and the other bugs mentioned on this page don't survive interior Alaska winters (yet), thank goodness. We usually have lots of vole and moose damage instead, though I have a resident porcupine that loves bramble foliage and raspberries in late summer and fall. My original raspberry patch with many varieties succumbed to the native grass and only Fall Gold can compete with it, so the raspberries I have to report on are Cascade Gold and Cascade Delight, which I planted in a different location. Both were quite productive this year, considering this was only their second year. Interesting to hear about the sensitivity of Cascade Gold to root rot. I guess my loess soils here drain well enough, because even with 16 or so inches of rain this summer, I saw no signs. Black Diamond struggled (new growth turned a golden color) in July when 8 inches fell, but appeared to recover within a few weeks. This is one finicky variety - not tolerant of drought or excess moisture, early season growth and berries (no matter what stage - green, red or black) are super sensitive to frost, and canes are not very vigorous where I live. On the upside, the canes typically have 80%+ survival with minimal protection as long as they are laying on the ground over winter. The blackberries found their way into a cobbler, jam and hard cider, besides being eaten out of hand. Never thought I'd get enough blackberries to get tired of eating them. Satiation only lasted a month, though. Now I'm working on the Marionberry jam. Next year it is wine!