Rubus Taste of Heaven™ Thornless Blackberry

A Proven Winners® ColorChoice® Flowering Shrubs variety, Rubus Taste of Heaven™ (Rubus 'Ponca') is a blackberry cultivar valued not only for fruit production but also for ornamental purposes, fitting beautifully into edible landscapes, containers, or mixed beds and borders. The bush grows vigorously, sets pretty white pollinator-friendly flowers, and produces abundant yields of large, luscious fruits, with excellent berry to berry consistency. Each berry weighs about 7 grams with 10 to 13 percent average soluble solids for the season and for the sweetest, most flavorful blackberries available. The fruits have a tremendous aromatic profile and a sub-acid flavor that complements the sweetness. They store well, retaining their shiny black color with little reddening of the cells.

A thornless floricane variety, Taste of Heaven fruits only on second-year canes; and since it has no thorns, it's easy to harvest. It's one of the earliest varieties to ripen, with a primary crop in midsummer and a secondary crop 14 to 20 days later, depending on your climate. Berries are ready to harvest when they are deep black and separate easily from the plant. Although the plant doesn't require staking, a trellis or support of some kind will make caring for and harvesting the plant easier.

Easy to grow, blackberry bushes grow best in sunny sites with at least 6 hours of bright sunlight each day and rich, moist, well-draining soil having an acidic pH. Add organic content to enrich the soil; fertilize in late winter/early spring and again in midsummer with a balanced all-purpose fertilizer, such as 10-10-10 or a 16-16-8; and keep well-watered, mulching around the base to conserve moisture and kill weeds. The plant is pest and disease resistant.

Blackberries are self-pollinating, so multiple plants are unnecessary for fruit production; however, planting two or more varieties with similar bloom times encourages cross-pollination, producing larger yields of larger berries. Planting early, mid-season, and late-fruiting varieties extends the blackberry season from early June to the end of the summer.