Description

Full sun, zone 4

Rubus watson ‘Black Satin

Pot size #1

This is a blackberry that is great for easy picking, since it is thornless. It is a heat tolerant blackberry that will produce prolifically. The blackberries that form from this variety are sweet and juicy. The blackberries also have a deep blue overlay to their black coloring. In their 2nd year of maturity they may form flowers that are small and soft pink. The canes are semi-erect and will yield a reliable crop during Midsummer; producing their blackberries on floricanes. The canes are rapid growing and can reach heights of 5 – 6 ft tall, so ensure that there is some kind of vertical support.

People love the Satin Blackberry because of its edible qualities, easy care, showy fruit, its fast growing ability, and being bird friendly.

Blackberry brambles are garden thugs! ; It is best grown in its own bramble patch. It should only be grown in full sunlight. It needs the heat to ripen before the fall frosts arrive – we have planted ours along the south side of our garage.  As a zone 4 plant, it is not particulary hardy here, so we pin the canes down to the ground for the winter, and cover them up with leaves, straw or wood shavings.  It is a floricane, which means that the cane grows the first year, and fruits the second year.  You will never get fruit if the canes winterkill to snowline.  It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn’t be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.