We have finally found a local source of hardy blackberries. And when we say hardy, we aren’t talking about blackberries that are hardy to zone 4 or 5. There is a complete lack of reliable, cold climate adapted blackberries for growers in zone 3. Many sites will include names like Natchez, Darrow, Illini Hardy, or Chester as being “hardy”. However, all of these blackberry cultivars are marginal. Thy may survive a year or two but eventually when we get a winter of -30F or lower, they died out. The mother plants of these blackberries have been surviving in a cold part of the Mission Valley north of Missoula for over 30 years. These are the only established blackberries that we know of in Montana and since they have been there so long, they have seen temperatures below -30F. Given that these are the hardiest blackberries we’ve seen, we surmise that if the canes are brought to the ground and mulched over in the Fall, they very well may even be hardy to -40F or colder. They do have thorns but they produce large, juicy blackberries that have a sweet/tart flavor. Zone 3 blackberries!