I'm new to this site and have been following this thread. Just thought I'd post my experience with Blackberries in my zone 5 garden. My dad planted rooted tips from his blackberry the year after I moved into my house so I don't know the exact variety but I can tell you they are thornless and not shrubby (long canes). Everything I know, I learned from my Dad who has been growing them successfully for 15 years. They like a rich loamy, well-drained soil, although mine are planted in clay amended with compost. As for light requirements, mine grow best in partial sun/shade; even 2-3 hours of sun is enough. I had one that was planted in full sun which never did well. My best producer gets morning sun, shade midday and late afternoon sun. As for trellises, I tried it but found a better system. I have mine tied to garden wire secured to the fence the same as you would do for espalier fruit trees. They donÂt take up a lot of space that way. I have the wire spaced about 1.5 ft apart horizontally. This way all the canes get an equal amount of light with no one cane shading out another. ItÂs also easy to control the direction of growth for new canes. I let the canes grow as long as they please. If you donÂt have a fence, put in posts and secure it that way. Come the winter, I cover the canes with burlap, just staple it to the fence (weÂre talking wood fence, not chain link). In my zone, protection is a must to limit winter dieback, the minus 35C winds with get them every time. I have never lost a cane to the ground. Come spring, I prune, prune, prune. IÂve learned that if you leave your canes long, the fruit is smaller; however, if you prune the cane to approximately 5-8 feet long, you get big beautiful blackberries. A lateral shoot will grow everywhere there is a leaf node and from there will bloom your blackberries. The only true pests IÂve encountered were bees. They love them. They get territorial and I've been stung now and again. Robins also like them. Mine donÂt grow too close to the ground so rabbits arenÂt a problem. As for what to do with them, I have a multitude of recipes but some of my favourites are peach and blackberry crumble or just mashed, mixed with a little sugar and poured over vanilla ice cream. Last year I made my own blackberry liquor  it was good enough to sell. Sorry this post is so long - just thought I share my (limited) experiences. G.

There's a thread on Mons tiller fries in the sun, see below: "Mine fried after an hour or two in the sun, more so than my other tea roses so it's no longer with me in my hot garden. Clementina Carbonieri did the same thing. A pity, since both are beautiful roses. Ingrid." ***** From Straw: I'm adding own-root Yves Piaget on my rose-order for next year, along with Young Lycidas and Romantica "The McCartney" rose. I researched again on Yves Piaget: the person who grows Yves both as own-root vs. grafted reported wimpiness for both. Someone from PNW (rainy & cool) climate also reported Yves being wimpy. Robert Rippetoe in his Rancho Mirage climate of exreme heat, drought, and alkaline sandy soil .... grows Yves Piaget and uses it in his breeding program ... so it must be very good for him. I figured out what makes Romanticas works: fluffy potting soil for the roots to get big, then transfer to fertile clay. I have Yves Piaget's children bred by Robert Neil, I put gypsum in the pots, and they went beserk with growth. Ingrid in this forum once grew Yves, but it didn't do well in the heat ... she has loose de-composed granite soil high in potassium. That's different from Ingrid in Thousand Oaks, who has clay. According to Wikipedia, high potassium or high nitrogen drives down calcium. The Romanticas have a higher demand for calcium than other roses, they are very sensitive to salt, so saline soil is not suitable. Calcium in gypsum is used to de-salt saline soil. That explains why Mons.Tillier works for Jaspermplants in Arizona, but didn't work for Ingrid with high-potassium soil. Arizona is alkaline clay high in calcium like my Chicagoland clay ... I'm next to a limestone quarry. Calcium is known to firm up tissue of plants, and helps with drought-tolerance, which explains for the success of Romanticas in my limestone clay. Here's an excerpt on calcium from the site http://www.oxyfertil.com/royaume-uni/role-ca-mg-plante.html · increases the plant tissues' resistance and allows for more erect stems · contributes to normal root system development · increases resistance to outside attack Here is a link that might be useful: Does your Mons. Tillier fry in the sun? This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Fri, Jul 12, 13 at 10:58

Whoa, this looked better on my phone/tablet, I swear! 'Florentina' again. From ARE, didn't bloom the first year I got her, then threw a bunch of blooms at me after I moved her! She must have feared the shovel, ha! More LOS Here's LOS, 'Julia Child', and 'Princess Elise', with either Winter Sun/Winter Sunset on the right, just out of sight. That's a 'Walker's Low' catmint in the front, which I might move to the back of the tower. I had 'America' sweet peas in the middle of this one. This is the basic design of my towers, for now - three (supposed to be) short roses in the front, and climbers on the towers. I can't remember if this one is 'Bolero', 'Wedding Garland', or 'Honeymoon'. I'm thinking it's Bolero. Apparently I didn't get any pics of 'Honeymoon' or 'Wedding Garland'. I'll have to fix that this spring!

I had cloud 10 .. in Tennessee it was shaded by a tree in the afternoon. I still got a lovely spring flush and scattered blooms and then more in the fall . I really liked it and meant to move it to more sun . It was very healthy and I loved the fragrance . I liked how it grew very lushly and full , it wasn’t awkward like some of my other climbers This was this spring before we left tn Top to bottom blooms