Overview
Uses: Home fruit gardens, edible landscaping, and large outdoor containers.
Benefits: A thornless blackberry chosen after taste-testing hundreds of varieties for large, consistently sweet berries with just enough tang. Sturdy canes can grow without a trellis, and it fruits on second-year canes in midsummer. Self-fertile.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5–9
Sun: Full Sun
Life Cycle: Deciduous Shrub
Growth Habit: Upright — sturdy, self-supporting canes.
Bloom Color: White
Foliage Color: Green
Mature Height: 3–5 feet
Mature Width: 2–3 feet
Bloom Season: Spring
Growth Rate: Fast
Summary
Big, sweet blackberries from canes you can pick without gloves.
Taste of Heaven® was selected for flavor above everything else. The berries are large and glossy black, sweet enough to eat by the handful straight off the plant, with a mild tartness that keeps them from tasting flat. They are just as good on cereal, in a cobbler, or frozen for winter.
The canes are thornless and grow upright, so picking is quick and comfortable, and the plant does not sprawl the way older trailing blackberries do. That tidy habit lets it fit into a raised bed, along the edge of a vegetable garden, or in a large patio container.
In spring the canes carry clusters of white flowers, which bees visit busily. Through summer the green berries swell, turn red, and finally ripen to deep black, so the plant is interesting to watch well before harvest day.
Care
Taste of Heaven® Thornless Blackberry Care
Plant in full sun, ideally six to eight hours of direct light a day. More sun means more flowers, more berries, and sweeter fruit.
Blackberries like well-drained, slightly acidic soil with plenty of organic matter. Work compost into the planting area, and avoid low spots where water sits after rain. In heavy clay, a raised bed or mounded row helps keep roots healthy.
Give plants about an inch of water a week, more while berries are sizing up in summer. Steady moisture during fruiting makes for larger, juicier berries. A layer of mulch over the root zone holds moisture and keeps weeds down.
Feed in early spring with a slow release fertilizer as new growth begins.
Blackberry canes live two years: the first year they grow, and the second year they flower and fruit. After harvest, cut the canes that fruited down to the ground, since they will not fruit again. In summer, pinch or cut the tips of new canes once they reach about four feet to encourage side branches, which carry next year's crop. Thin crowded new canes to the strongest few.
Growing in Containers
Its upright habit makes it one of the easier blackberries to grow in a large container on a sunny patio. Choose a wide, deep pot with drainage holes and a quality potting mix. Container plants dry out faster than plants in the ground, especially while fruit is ripening, so check moisture often in warm weather and feed lightly each spring, since frequent watering washes nutrients out of the mix. Roots in containers experience greater cold exposure than roots in the ground. Plants hardy in the ground may require winter protection when grown in containers in colder zones.
Size
What Size is the Taste of Heaven® Thornless Blackberry for Sale Online?
Our Taste of Heaven® Thornless Blackberry ships in a greenhouse-grade grow pot and is appropriately sized for its container at the time of shipment. Plants ship dormant or near dormant in the off-season, so they may arrive with few or no leaves. If you have specific sizing or planting questions, please contact us.
How Large Does Taste of Heaven® Thornless Blackberry Grow?
Expect canes about 3 to 5 feet tall, with each plant spreading about 2 to 3 feet wide at maturity. Space plants about 3 feet apart in a row.
Additional Information
What is the botanical name of Taste of Heaven® Thornless Blackberry?
The botanical name is Rubus Taste of Heaven® ‘Ponca’. It is a Proven Winners® thornless blackberry selected for flavor.
When will it start producing berries?
Blackberries fruit on second-year canes. In the first season after planting, the plant puts its energy into growing canes; those canes flower and fruit the following year. Expect the first real harvest in your second summer, with berries ripening in early to midsummer depending on your climate.
Do I need more than one plant to get fruit?
No. It is self-fertile, so a single plant sets fruit on its own. Planting several in a row simply gives you a larger harvest. Browse more Berries to round out a backyard fruit patch.
Does it need a trellis?
Not necessarily. The canes are sturdy and upright enough to stand on their own. In windy spots, or when canes are loaded with fruit, a simple post-and-wire support or a few stakes keeps them from leaning and makes picking easier. For more plants that earn their keep at harvest time, see our Fruit & Vegetable Plants.
