North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[road's end farm <organic101@linkny.com>]

On Tuesday, December 23, 2003, at 08:29 AM, ernestplutko@netscape.net 
wrote:

> Has anyone had any success growing blackberries in zone 3?  I found 
> blackberries growing on a vacant lot in Little Canada, Minnesota which 
> is a little north of St. Paul, Minnesota.  This is zone 4. This lot 
> used to be part of an old farm.  The black berries had thick, strongly 
> thorned canes which which grew to about nine feet long.  The berries 
> were of a good size with a good flavor.  The blackberries were probably 
> a tame variety from the previous farm.  For three years in a row, I 
> took some of the blackberry plants three hundred miles north to my 
> garden in zone 3.  The blackberries grew well during the summers but 
> all died over the winters.  I found wild blackberries growing near 
> Brainerd, Minnesota which is in zone 3.  These wild blackberries plants 
> are small, the berries are small and of poor quality.  Not worth 
> growing.  Has anyone grown Doyle Thornless Blackberries advertised on 
> the Internet?  Supposedly, this blackberry grows in all states if you 
> cover the canes with soil during the winter if it get below zero. 
>  $15.00 a plant!  I really like to eat blackberries and would like to 
> grow them.  I originally came from Pennsylvania and blackberries were a 
> weed.  No trouble growing them near Pittsburgh.    Ernie Plutko zone 3
>   
Did you try burying (for the winter) the blackberry you found in Zone 4?

It sounds to me as if the people selling Doyle are saying it's only 
hardy to zero, so the zone 4 one you liked would probably be hardier 
than Doyle.

--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly