Colorado 5b plants

General Fruit Growing
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First post

Colorado 5b

Considering planting some berries in the yard. Anyone have experience with any of these?

How much of a risk are autumn olives (I like pruning and gardening) - are they worth it?
How about seabberrys or Hardy kiwi?

Berry - Cultivar
Raspberry - Anne’s
Raspberry - Boyne
Raspberry - Nova
Raspberry - Heritage
Raspberry - Latham
Raspberry - Canby
Raspberry - Coho
Raspberry - Fall Gold Raspberry
Blackberry - Triple Crown
Blackberry - Chester
Blackberry - Black Satin
Blackberry - Snowbank White
Blackberry - Za Za Zamora
Wineberry - Wineberry ()
Tayberry - Tayberry (two )
Honeyberry - Borealis
Honeyberry - Berry Blue
Honeyberry - Borealis (R)
Honeyberry - Aurora ()
Goumi Berry - Sweet Scarlet
Goumi Berry - Raintree
Goumi Berry - Carmine
Goumi Berry - Red Gem
Goumi Berry - Sunrise Ruby
Goumi Berry - Tillamook
Autumn Olive - Amber
Autumn Olive - Charlie’s Sweet
Autumn Olive - Ruby
Autumn Olive - Garnet
Goji Berry - Goji Berry
Currant - Red Currant
Gooseberry - Pixwell
Gooseberry - Little Ben
Seaberry - Golden Sweet
Seaberry - Sirola
Seaberry - Male
Saskatoon/Serviceberry - Martin
Saskatoon/Serviceberry - Northline
Saskatoon/Serviceberry - Smokey
Saskatoon/Serviceberry - Autumn Brilliance
Strawberry - Delizz
Hardy Kiwi - Anna Hardy Kiwi
Hardy Kiwi - Ken’s Red Hardy Kiwi
Hardy Kiwi - Male Hardy Kiwi
Hardy Kiwi - Michigan State Hardy Kiwi
Mulberry - Illinois Everbearing Mulberry

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For the raspberries and blackberries, only primocane varieties will give you any fruit unless you protect them heavily. I was in Colorado Springs for a few years on 6b and all the cane fruits would die back to the ground. A lot of people in the Colorado spring gardeners group also had issues with not getting fruit on floricanes due to the die back every year.

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I live west of Loveland at 5000’. I have had good luck growing red, yellow and black raspberries. As @Melon notes, it is better to go the primocane route, cutting back canes each season. Niwot is my favorite black raspberry. The birds hit red raspberries pretty hard, but leave the yellows alone. Spotted Wing Drosophila can be a problem in berries here. I also grow currants, gooseberries and honey berries here. They aren’t my favorites, so they will likely be removed when I want the space. Serviceberry grows pretty well here, but birds pick them clean pretty quickly. My advice is to consider screens/cages for any of these that you’re seriously interested in harvesting. Good luck.
P.S. there is a thread for Colorado Front Range gardeners on this site. It isn’t real active, but there may be more info, or people you could message.

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i was starting to pivot to more floricane fruiting until swd showed up. now im unsure. the swd hasnt been real bad the last couple summers. my only hardy blackberry is late summer, so close to the end of swd but if i want a mid summer crop, ill need to keep some floricane ones going. got a few ohio treasure blacks started. only blacks beside pequoits that are hardy here. well see on the flavor.

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How common are those flies out here, just moved

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I’m near Reno, NV, zone 7 at 4k ft, so a bit warmer and a lot drier but similar weather patterns.

I have found that gooseberries and currants do quite well. Crandall and other golden currants grow amazing here. Goumi berries very grow well here as well. Tillamook and Carmine are the same variety and I think the best of the cultivars we have available. Serviceberry and strawberries do really well also.

Black raspberry does the best in our soils and dealing with our heat, which I doubt is a concern for you. Caroline is my most productive variety overall.

I wasn’t able to keep hardy kiwi alive here. It’s very frost sensitive and it kept freezing back in the spring after waking up from dormancy. I lost 3 plants that eventually exhausted themselves trying to recover from spring frost damage.

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Id consider not doing wineberry. At least here theyre invasive as hell.

Autumn brilliance is a common landscaping tree around here. Its alright. Is rust a big problem there?

Consider artic kiwiberry as well.

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I’ve never seen SWD in Colorado Springs but that’s me. I think Steve4b lives in Maine unless I’m mistaken

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They are around. I’m just cautioning that you can mostly avoid them, depending on what varieties you choose. https://extension.colostate.edu/resource/spotted-wing-drosophila-management-in-home-plantings/

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Any experience with autumn olives?

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I am in 7a/7b Heritage, joan j, crimson night, caroline, prime ark 45, black satin, triple crown, ponca, prime ark freedom. My yellow raspberries didn’t make it. I also have California golden currants.

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Cool. One of my biggest best trips as a young man in the 1990’s was through Ouray, Flagstaff, places like that. The Million Dollar highway around Durango. Beautiful country.

Anyway, I’m in Alberta Canada, which ranges from zone 2 to 4b, and Autumn Olives are banned for import. One of very few things that are.
I’d suspect you’d have a problem…
And there’s not that much appealing about them (IMO)… to outweigh a concern.

FWIW, I am in 3b, maybe 4a. So if you run into hardiness issues, some food for thought…

I have:

  • floricane “Wyoming” black raspberries that held up to -28F no problems.
  • red raspberries- Double Delight- medium size fruit, outstanding strong flavour and make 2 crops (kind of just barely but our season is short). Have seen substantial tarnish bug pressure due to being in Canola growing country. No other disease.
  • red raspberries- Mammoth (U of S, same site/program as the sour cherries). Huge, bland. relatively thornless. If you have kids, maybe huge, mostly thornless, and mild flavour is a good combo. But bland.
  • Cupid cherry
  • Saskatoon berry- Thiessen. I read up and thought this was the best cultivar among the Aspen-leafed ones. Least suckering.. Just curious if supply is an issue or you heard a negative causing you to skip that cultivar?
  • Saskatoon berry- Regent- compact version of the cherry leafed, eastern branch of the genus.
  • Mount Royal plum…absolutely great fruit, self fertile! No sweating all the dang fertility/pollination concerns. Apparently is likely on a myroblan rootstock because it is about the most vigorous tree in my yard. I prune it 2-3x a year.
  • Local cultivar “Paul’s Golden” hardy pear- handled -28F also.
  • Crandall currants- just getting started with them.
  • started fooling with Hazelnut, mostly as ornamental (purple leaf cultivar), but they have way more promise than I knew.
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I’d give a big thumbs up for autumn olive. They taste great and they are a strong grower and good producer. They grow more as a bush for me. I’ve only had goumi fruit for 1 year, and they were just OK, the astringency made them less good. On occasion I’ll snack on some choke cherries if I find a good patch, so I’m not averse to a little astringency, but I also don’t grow choke cherries.

Hardy kiwis do quite poorly for me. They actinida varieties were hit by frost both times when they flowered. I don’t have them in a lot of sun, and they don’t grow very much. But they are right next to a honeyberry which is doing well enough. I have some argutas in part sun also, and they also grow very little. The clematis next to the arguta grows out of control. If I had an area that was moist, full sun, and could handle a vine, that probably would be better. Maybe they want acidic soil.

There is a seaberry farm “Farm49” in boulder where you can walk with an emu and they have a good sized orchard, so it is obviously possible to grow them in Colorado. Reading discussions on this site, It sounds like many people have killed seaberries, so it would be one to try to find an ideal location for (full sun, maybe up on a slope to help drainage). Seaberry native range in China and Mongolia seems to be in higher elevation areas near water, and they do not generally live in hot areas, so if there was a little afternoon shade it wouldn’t be the worst, as much as they are said to want full sun. Posters from Texas, Alabama, and Nebraska have talked about their lack of success, and I wonder if there is a heat issue.

If you want something tasty and easy, you can’t go wrong with a raspberry. CSU recommends good varieties, I have caroline. I find blackberries grow much slower for me, don’t handle the heat or drought as well, and have a chaotic growth habit. But the blackberries that do grow are pretty darn good.

If you grow mulberry, consider something on its own roots. I’ve had a few times where they have died back over winter, but then resprouted from the roots. My girardi did that twice before growing to 6ft tall, my IL everbearing did once (unfortunately it was a grafted variety), and my replacement starks black mulberry also did once before taking hold. It’s almost a rite of passage. I also don’t think mulberries like to be too wet over winter, so planting them higher or on a slope could help.

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This is wonderful information thank you
here’s what we are currently growing/atrempting. No the winter I’m referring to as the mild winter of 25 to 26 and I did use protection inclusive of burlap to cover the more sensitive plants——-

Raspberries & Wineberries
Yellow Raspberries

  • Anne - on year two survived the mild winter of 2025 into 2026 (died to the ground, but it’s peimocane fruiting)
  • Double Gold - planted bare root from food forest nursery this season a little growth has started
  • Fall Gold - on year two survived the mild winter of 2025 into 2026 (died to the ground, but it’s peimocane fruiting)
    Red Raspberries
  • Boyne
  • Nova
  • Heritage
  • Latham
  • Canby
  • Coho
  • Unknown Red Raspberry
    All on year 2 and all survived the winter

Black Raspberries

  • Bristol
  • Jewel
    Both are new this year appeared to be taking off

Wineberries

  • Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius)- planted six of these last year to survived. Both are very established. It appears and have multiple suckers coming up.

Blackberries & Hybrids
Blackberries

  • Triple Crown- planted last year, failed original spot trying a new location with more sun (relocating the same plant).
  • Chester - same as triple crown failed original spot appears to like new location with More sun (relocating the same plant)
  • Black Satin - planted three last year all did well one really took off this year getting a ton of flowers and fruit being set on the bigger one. The other two are now taking off I planted two more this year in different areas with a bit more shade and both seem to be performing quite well at the moment.
  • Baby Cakes - floured quite a bit on year one I bought a mature plant from Lowe’s does not appear to have a significant amount of the growth. I think it’s using all its yesr 1 energy on fruiting which I’m not thrilled about.
  • Navaho - planted this year, taking off
    Specialty Blackberries
  • Snowbank White Blackberry
  • Planted two of these from Stark Bros last season, one in full sun the other in dapple shade with predominantly morning son the ladder is significantly larger than the former and has significantly more fresh growth, although both appear to be doing fine
    Blackberry/Raspberry Hybrids
  • Loganberry - on your one, got hit by one of the late frost of 26 but appears to be bouncing back
  • Tayberry - on year two - similar to the snowbank white blackberry one was planted in full sun, the other in morning, sun, and evening shade, and just like the snowbank blackberry the ladder is doing significantly better which surprise me. I have a ton of fruit being set on this one.
    Honeyberries (Haskaps)
  • Borealis
  • Berry Blue
  • Boreal Beast
  • Boreal Blizzard
  • Boreal Beauty
  • Aurora

Barry blue and borealis were planted last year. Mainly bushy growth the rest planted this year no berries or flowers either year.

Goumi Berries

  • Sweet Scarlet
  • Raintree
  • Carmine
  • Red Gem
  • Sunrise Ruby
  • Tillamook

Minor growth, onsweet Scarlet & Raintree, which were both planted last year. The rest were planted this year.

Autumn Olives

  • Amber
  • Charlie’s Golden
  • Ruby

Ruby was planted this year and appears to be doing fine was planted over the stump of a chokecherry tree. Amber and Charlie’s golden Both people appear to be doing very well particularly Amber although Charlie’s golden arrived very sickly looking with many yellowing leaves by the end of last season. It really took off and is now a very nice little bush. Both of those are on year two.

Currants & Gooseberries
Currants

  • Red Lake Currant - relocated this three times and it seems to be getting a little new growth in its third home. I ran out of spot so it has a more shaded location than I would like which I think explains the slow growth.
    Gooseberries
  • Pixwell very bushy growth year one on year two which is this year significant set of berries
  • Captivator - purchased earlier this season
  • Little Ben - on year, 2 berries were set mainly bushy growth. It is directly next to Pixwell , and from a fruit perspective performing significantly less well.
  • Hinnomaki Yellow - purchased earlier this season
  • Hinnomaki Red purchased earlier this season
    Saskatoons / Serviceberries
  • Martin - bought two plugs from native foods nursery neither have come out of dormancy. They both passed the scratch test. We will see. They’re both about 6 inches and teeny little twigs. I’m hopeful but not optimistic.
  • Northline - purchased from Raintree damage in a heat wave during shipping last season, but it did eventually bounced back with a significant amount of TLC. Hoping it establishes this year a bit more which is it second year.
  • Smokey - same situation as Northline
  • Autumn Brilliance - purchased from fast growing trees appeared to struggle to establish because it was a bit of a larger tree. It seems like it’s doing much better this year. It did not turn red at all last year though which makes me question if I got the right cultivar.
  • Regent - new this year
    Hardy Kiwi
  • Anna
  • Ken’s Red
  • Michigan State
  • Issai
  • Male Pollinator

These are all planted this year in full sun. They appear to not like the beating Colorado heat. I’m hoping to get a bit of dappled shade when the autumn olives grow a bit larger and cast a shadow on them in the afternoons. These are intended to be a privacy hedge, but I would prefer to get a good amount of fruit out of them as well.

Mulberries

  • Illinois Everbearing -planted this year, appears to like it full location with some late afternoon shade
  • Sweet Lavender - year one did not grow very much and had a fair bit of winter die back hoping it recovers year or two it is very small.
  • Honeydrops - on year two explosive growth have not tried the berries yet.
  • Silk Hope - you’re one just planted
  • Oscar’s - taking off, on year 1
  • Weeping black mulberry from one green world - planted in a full sun location I think my irrigation system broke and it’s been dumping water on this thing has not been good for the leaves. They’re beginning to yellow that’s been adjusted. Hopefully, it bounces back.
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It would be great to be able to grow some little kiwis. Is the ground consistently very damp? I would like to think that once the root system gets better, they will handle the heat fine. I have noticed how shallow my watering can be. I think I watered pretty well this week, but when I dug down to take up a couple raspberries, it was fairly dry underneath. The spot that I have that is damp and would let the kiwis climb on various things is currently an experiment to see if I can get a passionflower to grow. The fruit would be nice but that is a distant fantasy.

I have a wineberry planted in full shade, because I heard they will fruit in full shade, but they probably didn’t mean the north side of a fence under tall pines. I have had a couple little fruits in 3 years but it’s small and not much growth. The fruit didn’t impress, but it could have been due to shade. My raspberries are so prolific that I’m not sure I need another berry that tastes like a raspberry. I killed of my first batch of blackberries in dry full sun (triple crowns). My current prime arks do well in sun and moisture, and may even be tolerating the dry spots better.

My goumi harvest was probably limited by the late frost, only about 10 berries on 3 bushes this year. Their taste was astringent last year, even after a good time on the bush, and I didn’t think they were great. This year the few berries were less astringent and were good gummy eats.

Strawberries have been small this year, but not eaten much by the slugs like in past years. Our sprinkler system has also been down, so there probably hasn’t been enough water to grow big juicy slugs and big berries.

Blaming all on frost, the gooseberries haven’t set much fruit, but there are a few growing. The red and black currants didn’t seem affected by frost, or flowered later, and they have plenty of fruit. I think black currants have a better flavor and size. Or maybe red lake isn’t that great for me. The red & white currants I have that are in more shade have a few fruits, but nothing compared to the one in he sun.

It was my best year yet for honeyberries. Aurora, for being the biggest bush of all, was a little more scarce, but maybe due to its early flowering and lack of pollinators. The boreals and willa/keiko did fine.

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Do you have any pictures of how you protect your bushes with burlap? After a great run with raspberries for 5 years I have had complete winter kill 2 years in a row and need to have a way of protecting them before trying again

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I can take some next spring if I remember!

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Do you eat autumn olive fresh? Are the seeds hard/unpleasant?

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I’ve only had my autumn olives for fresh eating. It’s been a minute since I’ve had my Autumn olives, I don’t remember if I just ate the seeds or not, but they weren’t any bother. I mostly remember being sad when they were all eaten.

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My neices loved eating them seeds and all.