Wide choice of berry fruits

Press, 11 July 1980, Page 7

Wide choice of berry fruits

GARDENING

M. Lusty

Berry fruit have attracted considerable atten* tion from research workers. commercial and domestic growers — all part of the upsurge of interest in both improving and growing existing and less common fruits.

The brambles provide us with' considerable potential and scope as there are some 250 major species which belong to the genus Rubus: of these the raspberry and blackberry are the best known. Although generally well recognised for their fruiting virtues, many of the hardy, erect, and scrambling deciduous and evergreen, usually prickly shrubs belonging to this genus, have ornamental attributes as well.

The raspberry is well known and does not need introduction except perhaps to mention that there are black, orange, and white fruited forms, as well as the most widely grown red cultivars. The Red Antwerp raspberry is thought to be one of the parents of the loganberry, the other being an American dewberry. The loganberry was once one of the major brambles grown but its cultivation has declined markedly with the introduction of other hybrids, particularly boysenherry. But this is not to say that it should be discarded lor it bears a very palatable, long, reddishpurple berry which has a brisk, acid flavour and more aroma than many allied fruit, and is excellent as a dessert, jam, and canned product. This berry perpetuates the name of its discoverer in California, Judge J. H. Logan. The boysenberry is thought to be a cross be* tween Himalayan Giant, a commercially grown blackberry, and either a Youngberry, or Cuthbert raspberry. However, this seems to be a contentious issue as I have also read of a claim that it is a derivative of a wild bramble and a loganberry. In the past decade this berry fruit has really made a

name for itself but ease of management of its fairly rampant growth still remains a problem. Suffice to say in this respect that it is essential to train it adequately from the start if it is desired to grow it at all — advice which is really applicable in varying degrees to all members of the bramble family. The laxtonberry is a raspberry-loganberry cross which bears bright red, raspberry-like fruit. It is inclined to be self sterile and is best grown in conjunction with other berries of its kind. The hammothberry is a hybrid between a blackberry and a dewberry, often being referred to as a black loganberry. The fruit is very much larger than a blackberry and almost cylindrical in shape. The canes grow up about a metre before adopting a trailing habit. It is a good cropper and has a mild blackberry flavour.

The phenbmenalberry has Western dewberry and Cuthbert raspberry parents. It ripens a little later than the loganberry from which it is widely regarded as indistinguishable. In comparison it is slightly larger, more inclined to produce single fruits rather than clusters, and a little later in ripening.

The youngberry is a little earlier than the loganberry in ripening. It is almost black and has slightly sweeter fruit. It is a cross between a phenomenalberry and Moyes dewberry and forms a vigorous plant with a tendency to fruiting more towards the extremities of the growth. There is an almost thornless form of generally lesser virtues. Aurora, Marioi, and Ollalie are more recently introduced brambles which are gaining ready acceptance now.

Aurora, of loganberry seedling ancestry, is a little earlier ripening than bovsenberry but comes in about the same time as loganberry. The fruit is fair-

ly large, long, and slightly tapered, and of good flavour. Its weak growth enables closer planting than with boysenberry. Marion was derived from a multiple cross and crops a little earlier than bovsenberry. The berries are of medium to large size. elongated glossy black, distinctively flavoured and juicy. Growth

is vigorous which necessitates timely and proper handling of the primo canes. Ollalie produces a firm, blackberry-flavoured, and very glossy black medium to large berry. It is of vigorous, moderately thorny growth habit with a cropping period which coincides roughly with that of the loganberry. For those who have a strong affinity towards blackberries Smoothstem and Thornfree are two thornless blackberry-like brambles. The fruiting season for both is later than most brambles — early February; There is little to relate regarding performances since both cultivars have not long been available here. And now from Scotland comes news of yet another bramble — the tayberry, a large fruited hybrid, a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry.