I think you don't have enough material yet to be sure. Otherwise if there was an outlet near there that had all these in stock now you could go look at their plants and make comparisons. But you probably don't, at this time of the year. And maybe where you are located, if it is rural.

Speaking of which putting only your latitude in your byline doesn't tell anyone trying to answer your questions where you are, in relation to regional conditions about garden plant growth.

I live in suburbia but so far north that I doubt anyone else is growing these, at least not without lots of winter protection. The plant was sent from Central Europe so that's not an option either. I do have means of keeping it alive through winter so sooner or later it'll start producing and I'm very familiar with the berries. It just looks very blackberryish to me at this point.

"Speaking of which putting only your latitude in your byline doesn't tell
anyone trying to answer your questions where you are, in relation to
regional conditions about garden plant growth."

That's not really an issue for me personally as no one else on the forum shares my growing conditions and I always do my homework when it comes to strain selection. :) If I were to ask if Boysenberry survives in Fennoscandia I would get answered 'no way', even though it is my experience that with proper winter protection and snow cover anything is possible. I'm going by trial and error which is the fun part.

My focus is more in strains and genetics and those are the things I need help with. I'll still give your suggestion some thought if it makes it easier for you guys to relate.

The plant was sent from Central Europe

!

Are you located in North America? This cultivar originated in California and in the U.S. anyway is plenty available on the domestic market. And it being an agricultural crop plant should not be brought in without going through agricultural screening.

No, I'm in northern Europe. We don't have all those regulations inside the EU, makes it somewhat easier to obtain new plants I would think.

There it might actually be possible to go look at a collection or display at this time of the year and see if your plant looks more like one or the other.

That's reassuring to hear, I was afraid there might have been a mixup at delivery. " Fruit was small and only hinted at the complex flavor of a Boysen." Did the flavor fully develope in later years or is is your impression that the thornless variety is less flavorful? I eat frozen Boysenberries almost every day and I was hoping to replicate the complex taste in my homegarden instead of paying for them.

I kept the thornless Boysens through two fruiting seasons and pulled them because of the fingernail-sized fruit that was way less flavorful than the thorny Boysen, available locally via U-pick fields. You may want hold onto yours until they fruit, as I also experienced a big flavor difference in thorny Boysen between two different local fields. If any other of your caneberries have been flavorful, you might be surprised with the thornless.

I have grown both the thorny and thornless boysenberry. The thorny variety is the more flavorful. I love that tangy, sweet-tart flavor but the berries are quite delicate when fully ripe. Since they are trailing, you can lay them flat (or close to it) and cover them with straw, snow, or leaves and they usually will survive and produce the next summer. I can grab a few leaves and post pictures if you want to compare them to yours. The thorny and thornless look identical other than the thorns. It is worth noting that there are several variants that are so closely related it might require testing to ID them (e.g. Nectarberry and Youngberry).

Thanks, that would be helpful. I spend too much money on frozen boysenberries and was hoping to recreate the taste in my home garden. Even frozen they're the best tasting fruit that I've ever tried. I imagine they must be quite something when freshly picked, even the thornless version should beat anything frozen.

In my opinion, Marion is the best-tasting berry I have tried. Ripe thorny boysen is a top-5 though.

In local U-pick field in July, the fruit of the heavily-laden canes probably outweighs the canes and leaves by 4-to-1. In other words, it is a wall of berries.

Boysen must come off the plant at the slightest touch to be fully ripe.

Hi Berry,

i also just received a boysenberry plant which looks almost exactly the same. was very suprised as the boysenberry from my childhood were very thorny. a bit of google searching brought up that most people in the usa think the thorny ones taste better, and that here in germany it seems only thornless is available. where i ordered it from also didn't mention that it is thornless...

Hi tulsi, mine is also from Germany so they might very well be from the same source, Holland perhaps? I'll see this through and see how I like the taste. I should be able to find a thorny one from Ebay if it's very disappointing.

Thanks for the pic jtburton! It does indeed resemble my thornless Boysen. Does it drop it's leaves at all? My Tayberry is as green as ever and we had our first snow a month ago already.

Also, which one do you consider hardier, Tayberry or Boysenberry?

My boysen usually holds the leaves until Spring but that is because I usually cover them, except last year. Thorny boysen is hardier than Tayberry, in my limited experience. There is also a difference between the thorny and thornless versions of boysen when it comes to cold hardiness and flavor. The thorny boysen has a much stronger flavor than the thornless boysen and is more tolerant to the cold.