How to Grow Salmonberries (Rubus spectabilis)

Practical Self Reliance ^ | 25 March 2024 | Ashley Adamant

[Vigilanteman]

Salmonberries are a tasty edible berry in the rose family. Unlike regular raspberries which produce canes, salmonberries grow on perennial bushes and produce stunning floral displays followed by juicy sweet fruit.

I’m always on the hunt for new edible berries to add to our permaculture homestead, and eventually, I hope to have every square inch covered in something delicious. It can be tricky to find crops that thrive in certain microclimates, and finding edibles that grow in wet/shady locations is a particular challenge.

Salmonberries, unlike other fruit in the rubus genus, actually thrive in wet boggy soil. While regular raspberries can’t stand wet feet, salmonberries don’t mind one bit.

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TOPICS: Food; Gardening; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: food; gardening; hobbies; salmonberries

[Vigilanteman]

I am in zone 5/6 (SW Pennsylvania) and have plenty of moist/marshy/shady area in my 1/5th acre lot which includes wild blackberries as well as hummingbird vine. Does anyone know a reliable source for seed or cutting? Or have experience growing it in climates such as ours?

The berries are very tasty and the plants propagate well in the Alaskan panhandle where I was on a cruise this summer and points further south. I would be willing to buy or exchange seed as I do have ample hummingbird vine seed.