Hi All,

I recently moved to the south of France from the northeast part of the
US, so I'm completely unused to the new climate, and am not sure what to
expect. I have planted some raspberry bushes and I'm wondering if I
should expect them to shed their leaves in the autumn, or if they stay
green all year. Where I'm from, in Massachusetts, the leaves would have
fallen by now, so I'm just a bit surprised to see these small plants
looking very green and happy.

Do they need any special treatment to make them stop growing before
winter (such as it is) sets in? Stop watering them perhaps?

Thanks,

Ellie (whose French isn't yet up to posting in the French gardening group!)

Ellie C wrote:
: Hi All,
:
: I recently moved to the south of France from the northeast part of the
: US, so I'm completely unused to the new climate, and am not sure what
: to expect. I have planted some raspberry bushes and I'm wondering if I
: should expect them to shed their leaves in the autumn, or if they stay
: green all year. Where I'm from, in Massachusetts, the leaves would
: have fallen by now, so I'm just a bit surprised to see these small
: plants looking very green and happy.
:
: Do they need any special treatment to make them stop growing before
: winter (such as it is) sets in? Stop watering them perhaps?
:
: Thanks,
:
: Ellie (whose French isn't yet up to posting in the French gardening
: group!)

Bonjour!

The south of France is a far cry from here and I imagine they take longer to
lose their leaves, if indeed they do. I wouldn't think you force them to do
anything though but take it as a little extra.

Au revoir Ellie

The message
from Ellie C contains these words:

I recently moved to the south of France from the northeast part of the
US, so I'm completely unused to the new climate, and am not sure what to
expect. I have planted some raspberry bushes and I'm wondering if I
should expect them to shed their leaves in the autumn, or if they stay
green all year. Where I'm from, in Massachusetts, the leaves would have
fallen by now, so I'm just a bit surprised to see these small plants
looking very green and happy.

Do they need any special treatment to make them stop growing before
winter (such as it is) sets in? Stop watering them perhaps?

Thanks,

Ellie (whose French isn't yet up to posting in the French gardening group!)

Unfortunately the climate of the south of France is unlike anything in
the UK, so unless you are lucky enough to meet another visitor here who
comes from that region, I fear that you won't get any definitive
answers.

FWIW I would expect the canes to drop their leaves, and in any case,
does it matter? You just treat them as normal, and cut the canes at the
recommended time for the varieties you have.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Ellie C" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

I recently moved to the south of France from the northeast part of
the
US, so I'm completely unused to the new climate, and am not sure
what to
expect. I have planted some raspberry bushes and I'm wondering if I
should expect them to shed their leaves in the autumn, or if they
stay
green all year. Where I'm from, in Massachusetts, the leaves would
have
fallen by now, so I'm just a bit surprised to see these small plants
looking very green and happy.

Do they need any special treatment to make them stop growing before
winter (such as it is) sets in? Stop watering them perhaps?

Hello Ellie,

I doubt if you would get much joy from asking questions in this
newsgroup about gardening in the South of France. The gardening
conditions are just not comparable.

Franz

Ellie wrote "........I have planted some raspberry bushes and I'm wondering
if I should expect them to shed their leaves in the autumn, or if they stay
green all year..........."

Firstly raspberries grow on canes and not bushes, and normally they fruit on
the previous years canes, so that after fruiting you cut out the old to
leave space for the new canes. The canes that have fruited normally die over
the winter months anyway,so the question of if they shed their leaves or not
doesn't really matter.
I would be more worried about them drying out prior to fruiting

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 19:00:00 +0200, Ellie C
wrote:

~Hi All,
~
~I recently moved to the south of France from the northeast part of the
~US, so I'm completely unused to the new climate, and am not sure what to
~expect. I have planted some raspberry bushes and I'm wondering if I
~should expect them to shed their leaves in the autumn, or if they stay
~green all year. Where I'm from, in Massachusetts, the leaves would have
~fallen by now, so I'm just a bit surprised to see these small plants
~looking very green and happy.

hhmm according to the RHS, raspberries are a cool climate crop growing
best where there is plenty of moisture. They grow much better in
Scotland than the south of England (which is why our better varieties
come from Scotland!), so the south of France may be a little too
far... I think they need the cold winters and dormant period.

Let us know how your experiment proceeds, since global warming is
going to make it progressively harder to grow certain things
including soft fruit!

~Do they need any special treatment to make them stop growing before
~winter (such as it is) sets in? Stop watering them perhaps?
This I have no idea - I know that a couple of years ago my canes from
Marshall's arrived at the end of January as the winter was warm and
they said the canes just wouldn't go dormant. And that was here...
Perhaps they just won't.

Good luck!

--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

Hi Ellie,

Greetings from the Dordogne! I have just been out to have a look at my raspberry plants and the leaves are just turning red/brown, before they die down for the winter. As you are in the south of France, your season is probably a bit later than here. I'm pretty new to gardening so I don't know a lot about raspberries - but I can help on a couple of things. Raspberries are a cold weather fruit (I come from Scotland where they grow beautifully). This year my three raspberry bushes produced three fruits between them. I can only put that down to the hot, dry weather we had in June. Next year I am going to move them to a shadier part of the garden and also try some autumn fruiting varieties. Hope this helps.

Jay Jay

Hi Ellie. If your raspberries dont do well where you are, get rid of them
and put in blackberries. I grew them in Arkansas, and when we moved to
Kansas I brought them with me. They are doing very well as far as growing
normally is concerned, and we got our first crop off of them this year. The
only problem is that they arent as sweet as in Arkansas, and I attribute
that to the soil pH. Arkansas is more acidic (ph of about 6 where we were,
and it is about 7.5 here). Have fun with your experiments, I know I do.
Someone tells me "you cant grow that here", but doesnt tell me why, I take
it more as a challenge than advice.

Dwayne

"jay jay" wrote in message
...

Ellie C Wrote:
Hi All,

I recently moved to the south of France from the northeast part of the
US, so I'm completely unused to the new climate, and am not sure what
to
expect. I have planted some raspberry bushes and I'm wondering if I
should expect them to shed their leaves in the autumn, or if they stay
green all year. Where I'm from, in Massachusetts, the leaves would
have
fallen by now, so I'm just a bit surprised to see these small plants
looking very green and happy.

Do they need any special treatment to make them stop growing before
winter (such as it is) sets in? Stop watering them perhaps?

Thanks,

Ellie (whose French isn't yet up to posting in the French gardening
group!)


Hi Ellie,

Greetings from the Dordogne! I have just been out to have a look at my
raspberry plants and the leaves are just turning red/brown, before they
die down for the winter. As you are in the south of France, your
season is probably a bit later than here. I'm pretty new to gardening
so I don't know a lot about raspberries - but I can help on a couple of
things. Raspberries are a cold weather fruit (I come from Scotland
where they grow beautifully). This year my three raspberry bushes
produced three fruits between them. I can only put that down to the
hot, dry weather we had in June. Next year I am going to move them to
a shadier part of the garden and also try some autumn fruiting
varieties. Hope this helps.

Jay Jay


--
jay jay

Dwayne wrote:
: Hi Ellie. If your raspberries dont do well where you are, get rid of them
: and put in blackberries. I grew them in Arkansas, and when we moved to
: Kansas I brought them with me. They are doing very well as far as growing
: normally is concerned, and we got our first crop off of them this year. The
: only problem is that they arent as sweet as in Arkansas, and I attribute
: that to the soil pH. Arkansas is more acidic (ph of about 6 where we were,
: and it is about 7.5 here). Have fun with your experiments, I know I do.
: Someone tells me "you cant grow that here", but doesnt tell me why, I take
: it more as a challenge than advice.

I'm not sure N. American "Black Berries" are the same as the European
"Balck Berry" or Bramble. Not sure how far south the bramble grows in the
wind in France.

: "jay jay" wrote in message
: ...
:
: Ellie C Wrote:
: Hi All,
:
: I recently moved to the south of France from the northeast part of the
: US, so I'm completely unused to the new climate, and am not sure what
: to
: expect. I have planted some raspberry bushes and I'm wondering if I
: should expect them to shed their leaves in the autumn, or if they stay
: green all year. Where I'm from, in Massachusetts, the leaves would
: have
: fallen by now, so I'm just a bit surprised to see these small plants
: looking very green and happy.
:
: Do they need any special treatment to make them stop growing before
: winter (such as it is) sets in? Stop watering them perhaps?
:
: Thanks,
:
: Ellie (whose French isn't yet up to posting in the French gardening
: group!)
:
:
: Hi Ellie,
:
: Greetings from the Dordogne! I have just been out to have a look at my
: raspberry plants and the leaves are just turning red/brown, before they
: die down for the winter. As you are in the south of France, your
: season is probably a bit later than here. I'm pretty new to gardening
: so I don't know a lot about raspberries - but I can help on a couple of
: things. Raspberries are a cold weather fruit (I come from Scotland
: where they grow beautifully). This year my three raspberry bushes
: produced three fruits between them. I can only put that down to the
: hot, dry weather we had in June. Next year I am going to move them to
: a shadier part of the garden and also try some autumn fruiting
: varieties. Hope this helps.
:
: Jay Jay
:
:
: --
: jay jay

Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:

The message
from Ellie C contains these words:


I recently moved to the south of France from the northeast part of the
US, so I'm completely unused to the new climate, and am not sure what to
expect. I have planted some raspberry bushes and I'm wondering if I
should expect them to shed their leaves in the autumn, or if they stay
green all year. Where I'm from, in Massachusetts, the leaves would have
fallen by now, so I'm just a bit surprised to see these small plants
looking very green and happy.


Do they need any special treatment to make them stop growing before
winter (such as it is) sets in? Stop watering them perhaps?


Thanks,


Ellie (whose French isn't yet up to posting in the French gardening group!)


Unfortunately the climate of the south of France is unlike anything in
the UK, so unless you are lucky enough to meet another visitor here who
comes from that region, I fear that you won't get any definitive
answers.

FWIW I would expect the canes to drop their leaves, and in any case,
does it matter? You just treat them as normal, and cut the canes at the
recommended time for the varieties you have.

Amusing to hear about how different the winters are. I lived in Ireland
for a while and found their winters to be similar to the winter here in
France. But it's all in how delicate your perceptions are, I think.
Coming from Massachusetts, where the ground freezes 4 feet down and
there's snow cover from December to April, the winters in France and
England and Ireland all seemed similar to me - like a long autumn
followed by a long spring. :-)

David Hill wrote:

Ellie wrote "........I have planted some raspberry bushes and I'm wondering
if I should expect them to shed their leaves in the autumn, or if they stay
green all year..........."

Firstly raspberries grow on canes and not bushes, and normally they fruit on
the previous years canes, so that after fruiting you cut out the old to
leave space for the new canes. The canes that have fruited normally die over
the winter months anyway,so the question of if they shed their leaves or not
doesn't really matter.
I would be more worried about them drying out prior to fruiting

Sorry for my American colloquialism. We always called them raspberry
bushes, although we did refer to individual branches as canes. Do all
varieties fruit on the current year's canes?

jane wrote:

On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 19:00:00 +0200, Ellie C
wrote:

~Hi All,
~
~I recently moved to the south of France from the northeast part of the
~US, so I'm completely unused to the new climate, and am not sure what to
~expect. I have planted some raspberry bushes and I'm wondering if I
~should expect them to shed their leaves in the autumn, or if they stay
~green all year. Where I'm from, in Massachusetts, the leaves would have
~fallen by now, so I'm just a bit surprised to see these small plants
~looking very green and happy.

hhmm according to the RHS, raspberries are a cool climate crop growing
best where there is plenty of moisture. They grow much better in
Scotland than the south of England (which is why our better varieties
come from Scotland!), so the south of France may be a little too
far... I think they need the cold winters and dormant period.

Let us know how your experiment proceeds, since global warming is
going to make it progressively harder to grow certain things
including soft fruit!

~Do they need any special treatment to make them stop growing before
~winter (such as it is) sets in? Stop watering them perhaps?
This I have no idea - I know that a couple of years ago my canes from
Marshall's arrived at the end of January as the winter was warm and
they said the canes just wouldn't go dormant. And that was here...
Perhaps they just won't.

Good luck!

They grew very well in my dry, sandy field in Massachusetts, so there
must be varieties that don't require a moist climate. The ones at the
local garden center I guess are varieties suited to this area - I hope.
It's just that I was wondering if they should be "hardened off" by
having water restricted with winter (such as it is) coming on.

Dwayne wrote:

Hi Ellie. If your raspberries dont do well where you are, get rid of them
and put in blackberries. I grew them in Arkansas, and when we moved to
Kansas I brought them with me. They are doing very well as far as growing
normally is concerned, and we got our first crop off of them this year. The
only problem is that they arent as sweet as in Arkansas, and I attribute
that to the soil pH. Arkansas is more acidic (ph of about 6 where we were,
and it is about 7.5 here). Have fun with your experiments, I know I do.
Someone tells me "you cant grow that here", but doesnt tell me why, I take
it more as a challenge than advice.

Dwayne

"jay jay" wrote in message
...

Ellie C Wrote:

Hi All,

I recently moved to the south of France from the northeast part of the
US, so I'm completely unused to the new climate, and am not sure what
to
expect. I have planted some raspberry bushes and I'm wondering if I
should expect them to shed their leaves in the autumn, or if they stay
green all year. Where I'm from, in Massachusetts, the leaves would
have
fallen by now, so I'm just a bit surprised to see these small plants
looking very green and happy.

Do they need any special treatment to make them stop growing before
winter (such as it is) sets in? Stop watering them perhaps?

Thanks,

Ellie (whose French isn't yet up to posting in the French gardening
group!)


Hi Ellie,

Greetings from the Dordogne! I have just been out to have a look at my
raspberry plants and the leaves are just turning red/brown, before they
die down for the winter. As you are in the south of France, your
season is probably a bit later than here. I'm pretty new to gardening
so I don't know a lot about raspberries - but I can help on a couple of
things. Raspberries are a cold weather fruit (I come from Scotland
where they grow beautifully). This year my three raspberry bushes
produced three fruits between them. I can only put that down to the
hot, dry weather we had in June. Next year I am going to move them to
a shadier part of the garden and also try some autumn fruiting
varieties. Hope this helps.

Jay Jay


--
jay jay




Yes, a challenge it is. I won;t be tossing them and putting in
blacberries. For one thing, they grow wild everywhere here. I could
collect quarts of them just by walking up the hill in back of town. But,
alas, I don't particularly care for blacberries. C'est dommage! :-)

J Jackson wrote:

Dwayne wrote:
: Hi Ellie. If your raspberries dont do well where you are, get rid of them
: and put in blackberries. I grew them in Arkansas, and when we moved to
: Kansas I brought them with me. They are doing very well as far as growing
: normally is concerned, and we got our first crop off of them this year. The
: only problem is that they arent as sweet as in Arkansas, and I attribute
: that to the soil pH. Arkansas is more acidic (ph of about 6 where we were,
: and it is about 7.5 here). Have fun with your experiments, I know I do.
: Someone tells me "you cant grow that here", but doesnt tell me why, I take
: it more as a challenge than advice.

I'm not sure N. American "Black Berries" are the same as the European
"Balck Berry" or Bramble. Not sure how far south the bramble grows in the
wind in France.

They seem the same. We've always defined blackberries as berries where,
when you pull them off the plant, the little white nub stays in the
berry, whereas with raspberries and black raspberries, the white nub
stays on the plant.



: "jay jay" wrote in message
: ...
:
: Ellie C Wrote:
: Hi All,
:
: I recently moved to the south of France from the northeast part of the
: US, so I'm completely unused to the new climate, and am not sure what
: to
: expect. I have planted some raspberry bushes and I'm wondering if I
: should expect them to shed their leaves in the autumn, or if they stay
: green all year. Where I'm from, in Massachusetts, the leaves would
: have
: fallen by now, so I'm just a bit surprised to see these small plants
: looking very green and happy.
:
: Do they need any special treatment to make them stop growing before
: winter (such as it is) sets in? Stop watering them perhaps?
:
: Thanks,
:
: Ellie (whose French isn't yet up to posting in the French gardening
: group!)
:
:
: Hi Ellie,
:
: Greetings from the Dordogne! I have just been out to have a look at my
: raspberry plants and the leaves are just turning red/brown, before they
: die down for the winter. As you are in the south of France, your
: season is probably a bit later than here. I'm pretty new to gardening
: so I don't know a lot about raspberries - but I can help on a couple of
: things. Raspberries are a cold weather fruit (I come from Scotland
: where they grow beautifully). This year my three raspberry bushes
: produced three fruits between them. I can only put that down to the
: hot, dry weather we had in June. Next year I am going to move them to
: a shadier part of the garden and also try some autumn fruiting
: varieties. Hope this helps.
:
: Jay Jay
:
:
: --
: jay jay

Janet Baraclough.. wrote:

The message
from Ellie C contains these words:


Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:


The message
from Ellie C contains these words:



I recently moved to the south of France from the northeast part of the
US, so I'm completely unused to the new climate, and am not sure what to
expect.

Unfortunately the climate of the south of France is unlike anything in
the UK, so unless you are lucky enough to meet another visitor here who
comes from that region, I fear that you won't get any definitive
answers.



Amusing to hear about how different the winters are. I lived in Ireland
for a while and found their winters to be similar to the winter here in
France. But it's all in how delicate your perceptions are, I think.
Coming from Massachusetts, where the ground freezes 4 feet down and
there's snow cover from December to April, the winters in France and
England and Ireland all seemed similar to me - like a long autumn
followed by a long spring. :-)


The climate difference mentioned is not just about winter's lowest
temperature. The south of France has higher light levels even in winter,
and hotter sunnier summers than the UK, which makes a considerable
difference to plants.

Janet.

Yes, the light levels are different. And, interestingly enough, our
house here in France is actually north of where I lived in the US
(Massachusetts). I guess I'll get more information from posting to the
US gardening newsgroup, since the US has someplace similar to just about
anywhere in Europe.