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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Himalayan blackberry - Why it is called Himalayan.

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  • From: Diane Whitehead <voltaire@islandnet.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Himalayan blackberry - Why it is called Himalayan.
  • Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2008 09:24:40 -0700

Yes, they taste good. My children phone to check on when they are ripe and then come over to the Island to pick them. Friends in the Interior come down to the coast for blackberry season. A Japanese student who stayed with us one summer was thrilled to pick them and learn how to make jam which she took back as gifts to Tokyo.

I have tasted thornless berries and was not impressed. Our wild Himalayans taste better.

However, they don't have the delicious flavour of our trailing blackberries which is present only in Cascades. My Cascades are ripe in July and the Himalayans in August and September.

I wouldn't neglect them. I keep one cane from each plant and support it. Side branches come out along the cane and these have the berries on them. Then I select one new cane, so I have two canes in berry season: this year's producing one, and next year's.

If you neglect them they build up into enormous mounds of dead branches and it is a very prickly business to pick the berries. Also, it is neglected ones that tip root and gobble up acreage.


Diane Whitehead
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
maritime zone 8, cool Mediterranean climate
mild rainy winters, mild dry summers
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I just checked Raintree to see what they say about Cascades:

Popular in backyards 40 years ago, but long since unavailable. Many still ask for it because it has the unmatched wild trailing blackberry flavor but has much larger size and productivity. It is thought to be a cross of Loganberry and wild Cascade trailing blackberry, which it will pollinate. Ripens in July.

Climate Zones: 7 to 9






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