Morus nigra or not? Looking at the buds

[chriso]

Morus nigra is notoriously hard to root from cuttings. That’s why it’s mostly grafted

[Caesar]

I took a risk, seemingly one with low chance of payoff. But I’m inexperienced in grafting, and decided to trust the seller. Of the M. nigra they sell, they claim to have had success rooting Kaester, and that someone else had success rooting Old Coloma, but no one had success rooting Noir of Spain.

I got it from here: https://reallygoodplants.com/

[txpanhandle1]

I have a rooted noir of spain I started from a cutting last fall. I rooted two out of ten but one died after transplanting to a pot.

[Frame-6b]

I’m trying to figure out if m nigra will overwinter for me. I’m in a fairly arid part of zone 6b, and found this plant in a community garden nearby. The leaves and branches are stout, the buds are dark and the fruit looks nigra-like, BUT the top side of the leaf is fairly smooth (I thought they were more typically rough in nigra). I thought I’d post photos to see what others thought:

[Frame-6b]

Here is are some of the fruit from the above tree:

[kiwinut]

That looks like textbook M. nigra to me.