Well, now I have done it.  I ordered 10 black raspberry plants from a home gardener in Ohio.  These are the berries I remember from when I was a kid ( I have a long memory).  We picked these wild but there was always enough everywhere.  Well, not in the city and I have tried to buy these in the store.  There are raspberries (red) and there are blackberries (dark purple almost black) but both are different berries than the one from when I was a kid.  ONCE when I was in Wisconsin, I found a few for sale.  I also found some on a bike trail near Rochester growing wild, of course. 

So, drastic measures are required.  I have to grow them myself now.  My knee is cooperating and I have just enough energy.  oh….I can’t wait to pick them ripe and warm from the sun.  I doubt if I will have enough for jams and jellies left over.

Sharon the gardener says:

We were given these plants as a gift when we first moved here in 1978. We never knew what variety they were. They are however, our favorite berry, ripening right after the strawberrys are done. They are about the size of a dime. We make raspberry vinegar and wine as well as can the juice and make jellys and syrup with them. We also dry the leaves for teas. They like semi- shade to produce best though will bear too in full sun . They need water when they are fruiting and like a good mulch . No insects or disease have ever bothered them It is best to grow them on a fence, though you can just let them grow into a thicket. We prune in March. They will last generations if you care for them.