No, loganberries are not cold hardy but you can grow them there if you cover them for the winter. The loganberries I grow are not sweet.

My loganberries were plenty sweet. I also had to cover them, they only do OK uncovered if winter lows are above 10F.

Scott

My area (NKY) and probably grape-2006's is getting below zero this week, so that would likely kill the loganberry to the ground if not covered.

Scott:

I really wonder how we ended up with such different results on loganberries. Mine were a mix of tart and bland, so I pulled all of them except one mature loganberry I have potted. I kept it for the sole purpose of using it for possible hybridizing. I'm going to give that a try this year.

It sounds like we had a different berry. There are several different variants out there; the original is in fact thorny and I was growing a thornless variant. Did yours have a fairly strong clove/allspice component to the flavor? Mine sure did. In looking through my old order files it looks like I got some from Stark Bros and some from Raintree.

Scott

I purchased mine from Raintree and Burnt Ridge: both looked like they had been grown from tissue culture. I waited until the loganberries were almost overripe this year and the taste was about the same, like a weak raspberry, somewhat tart and soapy. That's not the only blackberry or hybrid that tasted off. I think the difference in flavor is a combination of climate and how the berries are grown. I had loganberries planted in the ground and potted and they tasted the same.

I have a thornless Loganberry,that came from a local nursery and the flavor was like yours,Jeremy,more Raspberry than anything and not real sweet.The first fruiting was last year.Hopefully,the taste will improve. Brady

Same results as Brady here with thornless Logan. A pleasant enough berry, ripening early enough to avoid most of the SWD damage. Will try processing some next year instead of just fresh eating.

I purchased a Tayberry last year and it should fruit a little this year, so hopefully I can report out on it. I picked up 4 more Tayberry plants from Pense and planted those in ground this Fall, thinking maybe they would taste better than Loganberry and hopefully be a bit more cold hardy.

I have a couple other western trailing varieties that didn't taste great the first time around but put on a lot of growth this year and hopefully overwinter well so that I can get a second try at tasting them (e.g Black Diamond, Kotata and Wild Treasure). I think I recall that Scott really liked Black Diamond and Kotata. A number of people online have commented on Kotata having a good, intense flavor.

I like Tayberry a lot and made some jam last year.Some coworkers tried it.One of them is going to grow some now.The berries ripen fairly early,so no SWD to be concerned about. Brady

My Logans I bought over ten years ago. I'm almost tempted to get some new ones to see if the variety sold today is different - I seem to be the only one that got great fruits from it. I don't think the climate would make that much difference. I would pick them when they were about to fall off the vine and they were very dull looking.

Kotata has some Logan in the ancestry and it shows in the flavor -- it also has some of that clove/allspice flavor.

Scott

Last year the only bramble whose crown died was the Loganberry, so I'm not replacing it. Many died to the crown but grew back.
I have a wyeberry and it is a lot like the Tayberry except it is a firmer berry. I have not tasted a lot of either to really compare. They look a lot alike. The firmness difference was noticeable.
This year I'm going to try and cross some blackberries with the local wild extremely hardy blackberries. It would be nice to have a bigger berry that is hardy for my zone. I mean hardy enough I don't have to use protection.
It's going to take years if not decades to determine if I'm successful. The local berries are small, but not that small. The canes are huge going to 7 feet. I was thinking for the first cross to use Triple Crown, but maybe later cross again to try and add more flavor. First though I have to practice my germination techniques. I have a number of seeds right now stratifying to practice.

Here's a picture of my loganberries from last year. The berry in the center is actually darker than it appears in the photo.

Here's my last loganberry plant...it's potted.This one is the thornless variety.

Heres what mine looked like:

{{gwi:2118139}}

Scott

Coarser drupelets and much darker than my thornless.

Mine would get a light tinge of purple color but not as dark as Scott's photo.