Blackberry Dorman Red - Rubus fruticosus

The Dorman Red Garden Blackberry is a variety that produces large round fruits, with a shiny red color, similar to raspberries but with a blackberry taste! The flesh is juicy and sweet. It is a productive variety, with good resistance to diseases and drought. The blackberry bush, easy to cultivate, has long stems that require trellising. Plant from autumn to spring for a harvest starting in July.

The blackberry bush is a bush with long flexible branches, very hardy, capable of withstanding temperatures down to -25°C (-13°F). Its deciduous leaves are toothed and spiny. It blooms in spring and summer, with small white and pink flowers, which then transform into round berries. Blackberries can be consumed fresh from the harvest or enjoyed in preserves, jellies, ice creams, in pastries (pies, muffins...). Harvesting takes place in summer and early autumn. The fruits are ripe when they easily detach from their support. Although the varieties are self-fertile, it is advisable to plant at least 2 plants to improve fruiting by spacing them 2m (7ft) apart.

In the garden, it is necessary to provide support for trellising: a fence, a trellis, a wall on which horizontal wires will be fixed. Indeed, the canes, whether trailing or erect, will reach about 5m (16ft) in length. Rest assured, cultivated blackberries produce many suckers at the base but are much less invasive than wild blackberries.

Blackberry bushes can be planted in different areas of the garden. Trellising on a shallow depth allows for the creation of a small edible hedge or can be cultivated in isolation, bordering the vegetable garden, orchard, or ornamental garden.

The blackberry bush, which produces garden blackberries, is sometimes confused with the mulberry tree, a tree that grows 5 to 10m (16 to 33ft) tall. The blackberry belongs to the Rosaceae family and the mulberry, white or black, belongs to the Moraceae family.