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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jan 18, 2020 14:26:59 GMT -5
I just came from Tractor Supply. It seems that they listened to me when I told them it was bad business to stock fruit trees and bushes not labeled zone 8 to zone 9 on the package. This year I noticed both Golden Raspberries and Boysenberries were available and had labels for climates as warm as zone 9 on the package. We tried red and purple raspberries when I was a kid with indifferent success in zone 8B but we have never tried Boysenberries. Some questions come to mind: are they spreading like kudzu and as difficult to be rid of if they turn out to be a mistake, any body try them in a warm climate, would the City be likely to write me a letter about my "weeds" if I tried them?
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 20, 2020 16:59:40 GMT -5
I've never tried growing boysenberries, mgulfcoastguy. But I have considered them. I've also read in a few places that boysenberries can be grown as far south as central Florida, and only need about 300 chilling hours. Also, Just Friuts and Exotics is about an hour and a half from me, and they say boysenberries do well in North Florida. So they should be happy in coastal MS. Like blackberries and raspberries, I've read that the canes root easily. To control spreading by canes bending over and rooting, keep the boysenberry canes trellised or tied up. Of course they also spread by seed, so harvesting and eating every single berry is your best bet for containment. If birds and critters get some of the fruit, they will plant seeds in their droppings. Blackberries spread by root runners, so I would assume boysenberry does, too. I don't know how aggressively they send out runners, though. You could try sinking a large pot or barrel into the ground and planting them in that; that should contain the runners. EDIT: I have read that boysenberries are hybrids, so they won't come true from seed. Just thought I'd mention that.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jan 21, 2020 16:01:09 GMT -5
Still considering it, the "looks like high weeds" potential letter from the City is holding me in check so far. No real place to plant them behind the house and out of site.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 22, 2020 9:44:01 GMT -5
If you built some sort of support to tie them to and hold the canes upright, they would be more obviously a cultivated plant and not "high weeds." Or if you grew them in a good looking large container (like a barrel half). But I know, some cities can be real killjoys about gardening!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2020 13:02:53 GMT -5
I had a chat with our local code and the bottom line re gardening in the front yard was that as long as it looked neat and not like weeds, all was good. I live smack dab in the city, so it can be interesting. I explained to him about the pecan trees and the nightshade family thing and he did not know that. Of course, the code guys are generally nice, but not gardeners.
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Post by paulf on Jan 22, 2020 17:15:16 GMT -5
One place we lived we had raised bed gardens in the front yard. While there was never a problem with the city and codes, we had a hedge along the front property line that was about five feet tall. Our house was along the confluence of three major highways and nobody could tell we had a garden...until the tomatoes grew out of the cages and people driving by would rubberneck, drive to the corner and walk back to the yard and take self guided tours.
A nice hedge could be the answer. Ours was cotoneaster and only took a couple of years to hide things. When we drive by our old house it is still nice and thick twenty years later
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 23, 2020 10:52:35 GMT -5
And the hedge could be edible! For example, blueberries are good looking bushes and along they Gulf Coast they are nearly evergreen. Some of them have nice red fall color before they (briefly) drop their leaves. Blueberries will tolerate some pruning and shaping into an informal hedge. You're probably looking at about 4-5 years to get a tall, dense hedge out of blueberry bushes, though.
Or you could set up an attractive trellis or lattice fence and grow fruiting vines like passion fruit, muscadines, or kiwi instead of a hedge to block off your garden from the street.
If shade from a tall hedge/fence/trellis is a concern, or if a full-sized hedge would take up too much space, you could go for a shorter hedge. That would still obstruct much of the street view of the garden (tall plants will still be visible) without shading out the garden. One idea is a smaller blueberry cultivar like Sunshine Blue*, which only gets 3'-4' tall.
*I haven't grown these, so I can't attest to the flavor.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jan 23, 2020 14:39:02 GMT -5
I have two blueberries in the backyard though the poor native soil doesn't allow much of a yield. I'll check out what plants are available when I go pay my power bill.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2020 6:21:19 GMT -5
Still considering it, the "looks like high weeds" potential letter from the City is holding me in check so far. No real place to plant them behind the house and out of site. One thing you can do to avert potential problems is to go and speak face to face, if possible with the head of the code department. Make sure you use words like decorative, blooms, tidy, encourages birds and butterflies, permascape and low water needs. Any of those that fit, even obliquely, can help. Maybe even a rough sketch of what you are planning, sort of a "I'm wanting to plant here, here and here, mulch nicely and suppress weeds, the canes get xx high, and bloom prettily in xx season. ".
Not saying fib at all, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Edit:
My personal problem with the berry canes is that I am not sure how to tell which ones to cut back when! But I presume you know that.
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