Well I guess it depends on who you ask at my house. My wife told me yesterday that I should replace all my plants with Brightwells. She likes them that much! Tifblue is suppost to be what all other rabbiteyes are compaired to so I assume its good but havent tasted it. Its alittle high on the chill hours for my area just like Powderblue. Thats why I didnt get it and Im probably going to get rid of Powderblue for the same reason. Beckyblue is my least favorite of my rabbiteyes. Its hard to tell when they are sweet unless you taste them and usually you are dissapointed. Im going to let them stay on the bush untill atleast half of them have been ripe for a couple weeks and see if that makes a difference. Woodard is okay as far as taste goes. Same thing as Beckyblue, usually dissapointing unless they stay on the bush for long time. Taste, plant growth, hardiness...... Brightwell seems to be alot sweeter of a berry than any of my Southern High Bush. SHB seem to have more of a tart to them, which I like, but all the SHB have alittle different flavor than the next. I probably have been picking the SHB alittle to early. About the longest Ive let them hang on the bush is about a week after turning color. Rabbiteyes out grow SHB 3 to 1. Im trying really hard to keep my rabbiteyes at 6ft but it requires alot of prunning and tipping to do it. They can get up to 20ft if left unprunned. Hardiness, Ive only lost one Premire rabbiteye in the first growing season but it was sick when I got it. Havent lost another plant yet but have had to cut back a few canes on Gulfcoast due to stem blight. Other than that every variety I have is growing like gang busters so far. I really believe that its all about the water quality you use to water them. Anyone can create a acidic growing medium but not everyone has access to good water. The only reason I think Ive had the success that I have is the amount of rain water storage I have. I have about 1800 gallons of storage now. It looks pretty getto though with all the blue drums in the corner of my yard but I just put up a wood fence to hide it and it looks so much better now.

I live in middle TN about 20 miles south of Nashville and we can have a wind chill below 0 sometimes and I have about 8 clematis that are in large 5 gal plastic pots and they sit out in the opening all winter long and always come back year after year. I have two 5 gal pots with a 4 year old Ramona and a 3 year old Polish Sprit that sit on my front porch with no pretection what so ever from the north wind and the dirt freezes solid in the pots. The Ramona right now has about 15 buds on her and is about 4 foot tall on her trellis. The Polish Sprit is about 3 foot tall and is growing like a weed with at least 10 or more new green shoots on it. My 5 year old Asao sits out in the opening in her pot all winter and she currently has 20 large buds and is about 4 foot tall... My first year I would move the pots in and out of the unheated garage but I soon gave up on all the moving and just left them to see how it worked out during the winter and never lost the first yet.

Mara, did you read above that the star jasmines sold today in nurseries are likely to be the Madison variety even if not labeled as such? It seems when a superior cultivar is introduced and it's not possible to tell the difference by looks alone that it will be propagated rather than the old variety and if not named no royalties have to be paid. I was told that by someone in the nursery business when I was searching for Madison without success. I tend to believe it seeing how my neighbor James' plants were more hardy than what I had. Did the above ground stems on yours split? Keep us posted on whether they return and I will do the same.

Only slightly related to the current thread... Could someone point me to a GardenWeb thread (or two) which gives good info on year round care of my blackberries? Along with the why! It would be most appreciated. Some quick info: - We are in SE Michigan, outside Ann Arbor, recently reclassified from 5B to 6A, but I'm not so sure. - My wife is the Master Gardener, and gardens for a living, so I don't get to say too much. <grin> - She is responsible for the two rows of raspberries. - I'm from Georgia, so want my blackberries. We planted a 22[ft] row of Chester Thornless, and I am taking over responsibility for these. - We've had trouble with the red neck cane borer, and cut all canes back to the ground at the end of 2013. - I removed all but the most vigorous 5 or 6 canes from each plant at the end of 2014, because I think that's what I was supposed to do. (yes?) - I really need to know what to do right now. Spring is here and it's all about to start. So what do I look for on the canes (last year's primocanes, right?)? What do I prune off? How far back do I cut what is still there? I'm an engineer, detail oriented, data driven... but not a horticultural idiot. I've got a rather green thumb I think, but am not so good at mapping the day to day (or seasonal) efforts to the long view, big picture in the fruiting plant world. Again, any help would be much appreciated. And thanks in advance. ~Allen