Fruits as Ornamentals

by Marvin Pritts

Raspberries and blackberries are not the most attractive landscape plants, but they will grow in soils that are too rocky or droughty for many other plants, so long as the soil is well-drained. They make a good living fence, and if anyone has priced raspberries in the store recently, you will certainly want to have a few plants of your own to save some money. Raspberries come in red, black, purple and yellow varieties, so the fruit can be quite colorful. With the proper selection of varieties, you can have raspberries from the end of June until the first frost. Good red varieties from early to late are Prelude, Killarney, Canby, Lauren, Titan, Encore, Autumn Bliss and Heritage.

A relatively recent accomplishment in blackberries has been the development of thornless types (Thornfree, Chester, Hull, Triple Crown). Although not as hardy as the thorny Darrow, they are much easier to pick and prune.