I’ve gone plant crazy recently looking at stuff online. I’ve narrowed down my list to 4 plants, but I only have the budget for one right now, and the choice is driving me nuts!
Attar of Roses Scented Geranium – I’ve been interested in this one for a while now. A plant that smells strongly of roses sounds great! That said, it is the “safe” choice for me. Aromatic, but no fruit, and I’m confident it’ll like my climate and be easy to grow.
Ugni Berry – The risky choice. As a berry fanatic, I’ve been interested in this one for several years now. The biggest things stopping me from acquiring it were availability and its purported heat sensitivity. Now that I found one, should I risk it?
Anne Raspberry – I need a yellow raspberry, both for enjoyment and breeding. I have double-gold soon to be shipped to me, but I don’t think that’s yellow enough. Also a safe choice, as the other Rubus are doing great for me, and no doubt an excellent fruit.
Salal – From what I gather, it seems like an adaptable plant with a worthwhile fruit, and I think I can get it to grow for me. It was the one I originally set out to buy until I found the others.
As far as I’ve seen the chill requirement only seems to apply to floricanes. I’ve got fruit now on my Joan J and Caroline primocanes, and I’ve fruited Caroline repeatedly in the past. PAF won’t stop fruiting for me, but the floricane Wild Treasure and Tayberry refuse to give me so much as a single flower. I’m experimenting by cutting back the snowbank primocanes to see if I can get the floricanes to flower.
Wow, I’ve never considered the fact that primocanes may have the ability to just continuously produce new canes and fruits year round in warmer climates. Well I do grow Anne raspberry and it is truly an amazing tasting raspberry, every year that spring rolls around I have family and extended family members specifically asking me about the yellow raspberries (Anne) and when they will be ready. Definitely a winner.
My Anne raspberry was amazing. It produced berries that were delicious and it was productive. It had one weakness, which is that it was not very drought tolerant. Notice i’m speaking past tense because it was deceased after the big drought several years ago. It is unlikely any place besides Kansas could punish a raspberry more than that. It is more hardy than any red raspberry. Black raspberries do well here. It is my understanding that yellow raspberries are basically just a type of black raspberry since they are closely related. Get the Anne!
I dont know all of your conditions and specifics of growing things but the most rewarding would be to plant a canefruit. From one plant you can get many hundreds even thousands…so since you are on a budget that to me is a no brainer.
There is a fellow on my boysenberry group that started with 1 plant and he now has many thousands of them and sells them locally. So he actually profits. And does very well with them.
On Anne and other raspberries you can purchase root cuttings for cheap and plant a full row of them for not much money…or grow your own plant in a big tub and get many hundreds of root cuttings quickly.
Old reviews say that ‘Anne’ is the best tasting yellow rasp… but that was pre- Cascade Gold.
Cascade Gold is literally bred for warmer climates but Steve has proven that the cold hardiness is not correct…so that means that it can be grown in heat or cold. It is superior to Anne in flavor, size and production as far as i can tell… but taste is subjective.
Very much agree with cane fruits being the best when you are on a budget. After just a few years I have to dig out so many blackberries and raspberries just to keep my rows manageable. Both were started from a single plant
No idea if Strawberries grow in Zone 13 but they are also great on a budget. Plant a few and you’ll have hundreds more in a few years
I just got Kiwi Gold in yesterday…and Double Gold last week. I have Honeyqueen also… Getting a new one called Nugget this fall. Will share in the main topic once i get fruits…
Propagate and sell a few on Facebook Marketplace (thick skin required in order to deal with irresponsible people). As you are already messing with plants and enjoying it, the amount of additional effort is minimal.
Going from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousands takes a lot of real work.
Funny brambles and thorns go hand in hand. I did have a thornless blackberry. The thorns have never much mattered on raspberries (to me anyway). Its the variety and taste that won the day. My favorite goldens were: fall gold, Anne and Kiwi gold. Loved all three. The jam always tasted like raspberry honey!
Nah, that’s for the next power up. Propagating 10 plants doesn’t feel like much because you are already gardening. Propagating 50 can still be done with a pile of dirt and a shovel by muscling through; your biggest obstacle is procedural as in how well you get organized. Pushing it to 500 is when infrastructure really becomes critical as all your inefficiencies come back to haunt you in volume.
Basically shaving 30 minutes of work per plant gives you back 25 hours at the 50 plant level. If you enjoy the hobby chances are you don’t even miss them. On 500 plants that’s 250 hours of your life you probably could use on something else.
