'Columbia Star' Blackberry Plant
Spine free = scratch free
Grown by John
South Downs National Park
Perfectly happy plants, or your money back
Specialist overnight plant delivery
The highlights
- Big, juicy and deliciously sweet
- Completely thornless
- Eat fresh or use to make delicious jams
- Harvest in July and August
Description
- Few things are more annoying (or painful) than ripping your hands and arms to shreds whilst trying to harvest your homegrown blackberries - that's where 'Columbia Star' comes into its own!
- A completely thornless variety, this plant produces chunky ovoid blackberries (weighing up to 7g each) with excellent flavour and sweetness
- As a trailing variety, this blackberry plant will benefit greatly from support (a horizontal wire trellis works perfectly)
- Cane berries like blackberries are split into two categories: floricane-fruiting and primocane-fruiting. 'Columbia Star' is a floricane-fruiting (or summer-bearing) blackberry variety meaning that fruit is produced on one-year-old canes, rather than on the year's new stems
- Chow down on your blackberries before they even make it to the fruit trug, cook them down with sugar into a sticky jam or add them to a delicious homemade crumble!
What To Expect
Supplied as:
Height on arrival:
Eventual height:
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Tasting notes:
Time to first crop:
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Self fertile:
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Rootstock:
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How To Grow
Excellent pest and disease resistance
Not often impacted by pests or disease. Your biggest challenge with this variety will be keeping the birds from getting at your delicious produce! Using netting can help with this, just make sure you choose a material that won't risk trapping the animals.
Water well when establishing
During the first year after planting, as your plant establishes, it will benefit from regular watering, especially when the weather is hot and dry. After that, however, additional watering will only usually be needed in extended dry spells.
Full sun
To get the best results, position your plant where it will receive at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day.
Any moist, well-drained soil
Blackberry plants grow well in a range of soil conditions, including clay, loam and sand, but it to be moist with good drainage capabilities.
Feed every spring
During the spring, use a fertiliser with a high potassium content.
Planting Calendar
- Best time to plant
- Harvest
- Flower
South Downs National Park
Meet John
110 years' expertise free with every plant
You simply can’t buy better fruit plants and here’s why. John grows them outdoors, just like his family has done since 1908, so they’re more than a match for the UK weather. John only has time for the top performing varieties, meaning that you can be assured of a successful (and blooming tasty) soft fruit crop.
What customers say about us
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Growing with Roots
Good to know
Our plants are grown in the UK
Specialist UK growers we know and trust grow your plants the traditional way, with organic fertiliser and biological pest control. They pick only the healthiest plants for you, professionally pruning them so that they’ll grow strong and well shaped.
Our plants are delivered overnight
Your plants are sent to you fresh from the field in our plastic free box that’s specially designed to hold them tight, then securely delivered by specialist plant couriers - straight from the grower to your garden within 24 hours.
We're here to help at every step
We want your plants to have a long and healthy life. Expect easy-to-follow grow guides and videos devised by our team of experts.
Perfect plants, guaranteed
We’re confident that you’ll be delighted with your new plants. Need help? Alice and her team are here to guarantee you’re perfectly happy.
From Plot to Plate
Blackberry ripple custard
Join Chef Jess in the garden kitchen where she's whipping up a deliciously indulgent blackberry dessert.
Learn from our experts
How to Grow Blackberries in the UK
Digging deep to answer your questions
How do I know I'm getting quality plants?
All of our plants are grown in specialist nurseries with the highest standards of plant care and sustainability. We guarantee you'll love them as much as we do! Don't just take our word for it - we've got thousands of great reviews on Trustpilot.
When will I get my plants?
The delivery timescale for each plant is on the web page (near the 'add to basket's button). You'll receive a dispatch email with an exact delivery date once your plants are on their way, so you can get the garden ready.
How will my plants be packed and delivered?
We send all of our orders through a courier network designed to handle plants. Specialist equipment ensures that no plants will be damaged during the packing process and every order is carefully finished and checked by plant-loving humans. Your plants will arrive in the most sustainable packaging possible with minimal to no plastic used.
Where do you deliver?
We deliver to anywhere in Mainland UK for our standard delivery cost. We are able to deliver most plants to Highlands and non UK mainland however this will be at an additional cost. This will be calculated at the checkout. Please note, deliveries to these locations will take longer. Unfortunately, we are not able to deliver to Northern Ireland at present.
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What customers say about us
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Delivered quickly, perfectly packaged and the tree was in excellent condition. Really healthy and taken to the garden with no problems. Can't recommend highly enough. 5 stars isn't enough!
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Unlike other online sellers, this company are well ahead in the quality stakes. My plant arrived promptly as per their promise and the plant was much more established and healthy than I had expected. It’s the second time I have ordered from them and I have faith in their promise. Excellent service.
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