Should I plant a blackberry plant from Arkansas in my garden?
Question:
I received a blackberry plant from Arkansas as a gift. Should I plant it in my garden?
Answer:
What a lovely gift to have received.
My answer is yes! With a few caveats:
1) It may depend on what variety/cultivar you have, especially given its Arkansas provenance. Blackberry is less cold-hardy than raspberry in New England, and many don’t survive the Maine winter. Unless it came with its cultivar labeled, it’s possible you may not know without trying. You will definitely want to plant it somewhere with full sun, well-drained slightly acidic soil, and some protection from cold winter winds. Until it becomes established, a nice thick layer of mulch can help protect it from the temperatures, too.
2) It may depend on your space. Under ideal growing conditions, blackberry can become a bit of a bully in the garden, requiring annual pruning back and (normally) mowing down of suckers that can appear several feet away from the mother crown. Give some thought to this when planting it–my own highly vigorous blackberry does very well growing up around an old isolated stump in my yard, where I can prune it and easily mow all around it to keep it in check.
3) Once it grows, blackberry can be a thoroughly unpleasant plant to do maintenance on–it is a bramble, after all. It will have *substantial* thorn growth on all portions of the stem, so you’ll want to plan ahead to wear heavy duty glove, long sleeves and pants, and still wind up with a few scratches any time you interact with it. And it benefits from annual pruning of spent canes, removal of weak ones, and potentially some scaffolding, depending on how actively it grows. That said, the sublime fruits are worth all the effort (blackberries are one of my favorite foods).
Please check out these resources for more information:
UMaine Cooperative Extension Bulletin 2066, Growing Raspberries and Blackberries
UMass Extension page on Bramblefruits
Good luck, and happy gardening.