Jahns Prairie Gooseberry vs Chester Thornless Blackberry - TreeTime.ca

Jahns Prairie Gooseberry vs Chester Thornless Blackberry

Ribes oxyacanthoides Jahns Prairie

Rubus fruticosa Chester (Thornless)

CUSTOM GROW

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

(new stock expected: fall of 2026)

Jahns Prairie Gooseberry
Chester Thornless Blackberry

Jahns Prairie Gooseberry produces large, delicious red fruit.

Found in the Red Deer River valley by Dr. Otto Jahn in 1984. This cultivar was found to resist insects and disease, tolerate frost, and produce high quality fruit.

Chester Thornless Blackberry is a self-pollinating fruit-bearing shrub. In mid-summer, the Chester Thornless Blackberry produces large, sweet-tasting, heart-shaped blackberries that are perfect for fresh eating. It is a semi-erect blackberry plant that requires little support from a trellis to keep its fruit off the ground. Don't forget to protect your berries. The birds love this shrub almost as much as you will.

Chester Thornless Blackberries are floricanes, primarily fruiting on second year canes. Each spring cut back all two-year old canes, leaving only the last year’s growth.

Jahns Prairie Gooseberry Quick Facts

Chester Thornless Blackberry Quick Facts

Zone: 3a
Zone: 3b
Height: 1.5 m (5 ft)
Height: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Spread: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Spread: 3 m (10 ft)
Light: full sun
Light: full sun
Moisture: normal, wet
Moisture: normal, wet
Growth rate: fast
Growth rate: fast
Life span: short
Life span: short
Suckering: none
Suckering: high


Fall colour: yellow
Flowers: pink
Berries: red-pink berries
Berries: heart shaped black
Firmness: firm
Harvest: mid to late July
Harvest: July
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Other Names: chester blackberry, hardy blackberry