If you're not opposed to erect(self-supporting) thorned blackberry types, Kiowa has been getting rave reviews from Southern growers in zones 7,8,9. I've seen good reports on Black Butte and Triple Crown, as well, but don't have any of them in my plantings(too many good 'wild' ones growing on the farm to devote any space to planting blackberries).

GG & ON blueberries should do well for you - can't say I ever encountered a 'bad' blueberry. If you've got room for more, I'd plant a diverse selection of rabbiteyes and Southern highbush types.

Triple Crown!!!! late, thornless and delicous at least that way at Mount Vernon, Wa

I spent all summer trying to keep my O'neals alive; they are very picky about pH, preferring it to be below 5.0. The Georgiagems are hardier and I only lost one. You might try Ozarkblue, Jubilee, Reveille, GulfCoast or Sharpblue. They seem more tolerant of higher pH (5.0-5.5), heat waves, moles and gophers. Many nurseries rave about Cape Fear, but I had no luck. They are even more picky than the O'neals and I lost all of them.

In my zone 8 orchard I have

Raspberries: Summit, a red everbearing variety.All canes are cut to the ground every year.

Blueberries: Darrow and Olympia, both do well here.

Blackberries: Chester thornless, no supports needed.
Marionberry: very thorny, but very tasty!

Eric

Hi,
I live in the Napa Valley. This year I planted 'Heritage' Red Raspberries and a Black raspberry called "Big Mac" the black is definitely the more vigorous so far. I haven't had any fruit yet but I've grown Heritage before and they were sweet and a long productive season.

As far as blueberries go I planted two varieties and both are doing well. They get half sun with some afternoon shade. The early variety is called "Spartan" and it has huge very sweet berries(I highly recommend this one) the mid season is Toro and it has average size more tart berries but is very productive. Hope this helps. I'd be interested in what you find out.

Anyone growing the Arapaho and Apache thornless blackberries from Raintree? Do these sucker less than common types or at least not aggressively spead? How about taste?

I have planted ozarck blue 2 years a ago ,it is loaded with fruit this year.I think it is more tolerant of higher ph.I planted misty blue last year,but it is barely surviving.I just moved it from the ground into a pot,hopefully it will make it.
Rasberries I have Heritage ,it fruited the first year itself. Berries are large and abundant in the fall,only few in summer.
I also have a Baba berry ,which I got as a bare root from home depot,the berries from this plant are extremely favorful and there are a lot of baby plants in the patch.

I have just planted a "black Satin" blackberry ,which has just started flowering.

I am near San Jose.

abu.

I put in 11 more Blueberry plants this spring. Varieties from Early to extra late so I should have Blueberries all summer next year and on. Four of the new plants set afew flowers already.

Raspberries and Brambles were a must have this spring. Planted 'Jewel' Black Raspberries, 'Caroline' Red Everbearing and 'Anne' Yellow Everbearing Raspberries. Also 'Encore' Summer Red Raspberries. Tried for Purple Raspberies but was too late as they were out of stock.

I put in a 'Kiowa' Blackberry so I hope to be able to judge for myself next year if the fruit is as good as advertised. It had better be good to make up for the nasty thorns!

I also planted Apache and Arapaho Erect Thornless Blackberries this Spring but so far they are not growing.

I planted four kiowa blackberries (obtained from Raintree nurseries) last year. There's a good amount of fruit forming on them now...very exciting.

They actually produced a very tiny amount of berries last year (first year planting). Biggest blackberries I've ever seen! And they tasted GREAT! However, these are my first blackberries (to grow), so I think I picked a few too early -- some weren't sweet (and somewhat bad tasting). But others I must've gotten at the right time, because they were fantastic.

I planted Doyle Thornless 3yrs ago. This is a very agressive plant which is easy to go and is loaded with very big fruit.
{{gwi:671921}}

I planted an arapaho and apache last fall, but they haven't grown much. I may get a few berries off of them. I fight blackberries on our property all the time, so I don't know why these don't take off. I planted a marionberry in the same area and it's growing fine.

If you live in a warmer zone like I do, make certain you do your homework and select varieties that don't require a high number of chilling hours. I just picked up the Blueberry 'Sunshine Blue' which requires only 150 hours of chilling.

I am having trouble finding out the growth rate of Blueberries. Someone suggested them as a good looking landscape plant. Looks like for this zone I need Dwarf size. Also does anyone have a suggestion for other quick growing nice looking fruit shrubs? Thanks

I wouldn't call blueberries quick growing. Seems to take about 6 or 8 years for them to really get going. In my experience at 2 different houses.

abukorga, how did your black satin do? I want some... we used to have them when I was a kid. They didn't sucker, thornless, 3 plants in a group made plenty of fruit for 2 kids to sit there for 40 minutes and munch. We complained about the sourness and kept eating. We took the best ones to my mom. They are really soft when they're sweet. Good plant. No maintenance, no diseases. Zone 6b NJ hot and humid summers