Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - [NAFEX] Marionberry

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Scott Smith <scott@cs.jhu.edu>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Marionberry
  • Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 08:50:27 -0400

I can vouch for the 7F limit, I tried to grow them but found I needed to take them down and cover them in my Maryland climate (gets down to about 0F here most winters) or they would die back.  I got hooked on Marionberries on trips to Oregon, they are the best tasting blackberries I have found.  There are several newer varieties which are supposedly "almost as tasty" as the Marion which are a bit more hardy and I am testing them now.  They include Metolius, Black Pearl, Orus 1843-3, and Siskiyou.  I hope at least one of them is regularly hardy in my climate and tasty as well.

Scott

------------
Marion  is a variety of trailing blackberry produced at Oregon State U. 
from a cross of Chehalem x Olallie.  It was introduced in 1956.  
Chehalem has a local species, Rubus ursinus, as a parent that gives it 
a particular rich, aromatic flavor.  The variety is mainly grown  in 
the Willamette Valley for pies and preserves and is highly prized for 
them.  The berries are quite large, but with unusually small seeds.  
The vines suffer damage at 7 F above zero, so they can't be grown many 
areas without winter protection.   Marion is the standard against which 
all other berries are compared in this area of Oregon. 
-Lon Rombough



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page