Raspberries are pretty invasive. They spread underground many feet from the parent plant. Be prepared to have to do a lot to control them and keep them from intermingling everywhere. They will go under the fence and spread to the other side too.

minsue:

There is no problem with cross-pollination in planting any two types of caneberry, since pollination could affect only the next generation of plants not the current berries. However, there is a problem with planting boysenberries in a zone 5 climate, since they will not survive the winter, although raspberries will. I once planted boysenberries, and they froze out even in my much warmer zone 7 climate. I would suggest you look at something like Caroline as your raspberry variety. It seems to do well in the colder areas of the Northeast.

If there are any other apple trees in your neighborhood, you may not need a pollinator for Honeycrisp at all (they are pollinated by insects that fly long distances), but if you want a good sauce apple you might look at the very early Yellow Transparent apple. McIntosh would also work well in your climate, and has a reputation as a decent pie and sauce apple, as well as a table apple. There are loads of others, many of them developed in the upper Midwest where you live. Look over a few nursery lists to see what appeals to you, then come back and test your choices against the experiences of other people who live in similar climates. You can get lots of different suggestions here, but the one that matters most is your own, since Honeycrisp can be pollinated by so many different varieties.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Probably the only blackberries that will work for you are the two primocane-fruiting varieties from the University of Arkansas, Prime Jim and Prime Jan. Prime Jan is usually regarded as the better of the two. However, their flavor isn't much like Boysen at all.

Mindy, there are also other kinds of blackberries that will work for you. I think Triple Crown is hardy in zone 5. If you really want a blackberry/raspberry cross, I think Tayberry may be hardy in your zone. It doesn't taste like boysenberry though.

For the apples there are zillions of kinds. I would suggest reading some catalogs and narrowing down the possibilities and asking here about the specific ones that sounded good. Most apples are pollinated by another apple, unless one is early and the other is late, or if one is a triploid (about 10% of apple varieties are triploids).

Scott

Thanks for the responses, I'm really bummed about not being able to do the boysenberries, they are more of a nostalgia thing as Gram & Gramp in WA had tons of them and me & my brother were shipped a quart jar of jam every summer up until a couple of years ago when Gram passed away. As for a pollinator for the Honeycrisp, I did see that you can use a crabapple as one and I do have a couple of ornamental ones in my yard I'm wondering if those will work and then I could get 2 Honeycrisps instead of one. We do have a few huge orchards in a 30 mile radius from us, I'll stop in at one of them and see what they suggest.
Thanks, Mindy

If the bloom times of the crabapples overlap with the bloom time of Honeycrisp, they'll work fine. Usually, ornamental crabs have a quite long bloom period, so my bet is that they'll work. Maybe what you can do is go ahead and plant two Honeycrisp (assuming you have room for one other tree, crab or regular apple) and see if the bloom times overlap or not the first spring. If they don't, it's no big loss that year (since you really don't want young trees fruiting much, if at all), and plant something else.

However, if you really want a pie/sauce tree, I'd really think about getting one of the trees Don suggested. I think tarter apples work *much* better in pies and sauce so that you have good apple flavor left after they're cooked. Plus, I grew up eating applesauce made from Yellow Transparent, and don't really care for any other kind!

fruitgirl, your advice sounds good. I'm sure the crabapples should be fine as pollinizers.

I've noticed that the Honeycrisp apples, at least around here, have quite a bit of tartness, especially if they are picked with a green background which seems to be more and more the case.

Part of the reason I'm growing my own is so I can leave them on the tree longer.

That's true, murky, but I like my pie apples *really* tart! But, I'm also the girl who doesn't care for sweeter blueberries (like Duke) unless they're still red on the backside!

Thanks, I think I'll start w/ 2 Honeycrisps then. A friend and I do the "make a few dozen pies to throw into the freezer" thing every fall and usually do Honeycrisps and this year we missed out on them as everybody and there brother came and bought out the orchard that we get them from. They sell out so fast around here so I might as well start growing my own and save that $$$ every fall.