Marion, Olallie and other West Coast berries
 

Anyone growing them? Tasted them? Boysenberry plants can be had here but the others? Nope. Worth the effort of finding and paying outrageous prices for essentially a hybrid blackberry? And would they flourish in zone 9?

Re: Marion, Olallie and other West Coast berries
 

O boy bounty on the bush

Re: Marion, Olallie and other West Coast berries
 

Care to elaborate?

I was given a very thorny blackberry by a neighbor several years ago; it wouldn't produce for her. For me it went nuts! HUGE, tasty berries. Sadly, without knowing the variety, I lost it also in my divorce despite attempting to take some starts to Brrrhio. They were smart enough to poop out the 1st year while I spent 2 more miserably frigid winters learning to never say "I do" glibly or even earnestly ever again.

Back to the subject...Which have you tasted? Prolific is nice but tasty is important. Anyone got sources for plants in their garden or that of a friends?

Re: Marion, Olallie and other West Coast berries
 

We have some boysenberry plants here that might yield a couple-few crowns; they were supposed to be replaced by the "thornless blackberry" plants but a few boysenberry are still popping up.

Re: Marion, Olallie and other West Coast berries
 

How do they taste? Boysenberries are on my list to plant if they're yummy. And what kind of thornless are you growing? I've been reading that triple crown is the one to buy but I'm clueless. I had a wonderful thorny one in MD but don't know what it was; I made blackberry jam for a CA buddy who said it was better than anything he could buy out there.

Re: Marion, Olallie and other West Coast berries
 

No way we have Knott's Berry Farm

Re: Marion, Olallie and other West Coast berries
 

My dear, you have not tasted my jams. I developed my own recipes despite all those warnings about not messing with quantities of sugar or pectin. (Your grandmother just cooked fruit and sugar to gel stage but a bit of pectin, unless you're using pectin rich fruits or some underripe, reduces the time.)

I use about 2/3 of both ingredient. NO WATER. Result is a spread you need but a teaspoon to impart true fruit flavor to a slice of toast or English muffin--homemade sourdough is best. Some whacky lady who received some of my 1/2 pints of strawberry jam as a gift wanted to pay $5 a jar for a dozen more. I may know squat about bananas but I'm quite accomplished in the kitchen. Oh, and I make seriously wicked pickled okra and dilly beans...

Re: Marion, Olallie and other West Coast berries
 

Given our not-so-cold winters and relatively cool spring and summer, my favorites are Black Satin (thornless Marion from Monrovia Growers), Youngberry (not the thornless), and "Bababerry" Raspberry.

Re: Marion, Olallie and other West Coast berries
 

Youngberry is in my sites; the others are new to me. Thanks for your input.

Re: Marion, Olallie and other West Coast berries
 

The boysenberry was pretty tasty; the thornless have just started producing (2 seasons) so the jury is still out but the berries were huge.

Varieties of thornless are "Apache" & Arapahoe"

The Boysenberry blossoms would cover the plants to the point of having them look almost solid white, so what they may have lacked in size was made up for in production & *maybe* a more intense flavor.

To be fair, we haven't had the thornless long enough to be able to judge which has the best flavor.
:nanadrink:

Re: Marion, Olallie and other West Coast berries
 

Thornless berries (of the genus Rubus) come in two varieties: genetically thornless and hormone-induced thornless. The genetically thornless have been bred that way, and they will remain thornless, even the new canes that come up will be thornless. The hormone-induced varieties (thornless Youngberry is one example) will not stay true to form: after a few years you'll have new canes coming up with thorns and even old canes sprout branches with thorns.

Re: Marion, Olallie and other West Coast berries
 

Yes

Re: Marion, Olallie and other West Coast berries
 

Reviving this thread because I am finally somewhat settled with a great berry area but can't find what I need at a decent price. ($7 for a twig plus $2 shipping isn't in my plans for a potentially doomed experiment.) Is anyone growing Marions and/or Olallies ? If so, do you have a stick or 2 to help this wannabee grower try them where they're not meant to be? If you're near a grower with reasonable prices, could you help set me up? You buy and ship. I don't PP but I can send a check you should let clear before mailing.