Meet the Plant: Triple Crown Blackberry — Big Berries and a Long Summer Harvest

There’s something particularly satisfying about growing a blackberry that doesn’t finish its show all at once.

Just when earlier berries are beginning to disappear, Triple Crown Blackberry comes into its own.

Known for its large, flavorful berries, thornless canes, vigorous growth, and extended harvest, Triple Crown has become a favorite for home berry gardens.

And the name? “Triple Crown” refers to three qualities for which the variety was selected: flavor, productivity, and vigor.

That’s a pretty good combination for a blackberry growing just outside your back door.

What Makes Triple Crown Blackberry Special

Triple Crown is a thornless, semi-erect blackberry that produces large, glossy black berries with excellent flavor.

For gardeners, it offers an appealing combination:

• Large berries
• Sweet, flavorful fruit
• Thornless canes
• Heavy production
• Vigorous growth
• An extended harvest
• Later-season fruit
• Excellent fresh-eating quality

That later harvest is particularly useful if you’re growing more than one blackberry variety. Plant an earlier blackberry and Triple Crown together, and instead of having one short burst of berries, you can extend the season and enjoy fresh fruit for considerably longer.

What Do Triple Crown Blackberries Taste Like

Triple Crown is known for large berries with a rich, sweet blackberry flavor. They’re excellent picked fully ripe and eaten fresh—which, in a home garden, is probably how quite a few will disappear.

The berries are also useful for blackberry cobbler, pies, muffins and breads, pancakes, smoothies, jams and preserves, sauces, and freezing.

If you grow enough, freeze some of your summer harvest and you’ll have homegrown blackberries waiting when summer is long gone.

Is Triple Crown Blackberry Thornless

Yes. Triple Crown is a thornless blackberry. That’s a significant advantage when you’re reaching into a productive plant looking for ripe fruit.

Thornless canes make harvesting easier and also simplify pruning, training, and routine maintenance. They’re particularly nice for a family berry garden where several people—including children—may be helping with the harvest.

When Do Triple Crown Blackberries Ripen

Triple Crown is generally considered a late-season blackberry, with fruit ripening after many earlier varieties. Its harvest can also extend over several weeks.

Exact ripening dates will vary according to your climate, weather, and growing conditions, so think in terms of relative harvest season rather than a particular calendar date.

That’s also why growing more than one blackberry variety can be so rewarding. An early variety can start blackberry season. Triple Crown can help keep it going.

How Big Does Triple Crown Blackberry Get

Triple Crown is a vigorous blackberry with semi-erect canes. The plants require enough space for healthy cane development and benefit from support as the canes grow and carry fruit.

Don’t judge your planting space by the size of the young blackberry that arrives at your door. You’re planting for the mature plant. Allow adequate room between plants for sunlight, airflow, pruning, harvesting, and new cane development.

Does Triple Crown Blackberry Need a Trellis

A support or trellis system is recommended for Triple Crown Blackberry. Its vigorous semi-erect canes can become long, particularly when growing well.

A simple blackberry trellis helps keep canes organized, support fruiting growth, improve airflow, keep berries easier to see and pick, simplify pruning, and keep the berry patch from becoming tangled.

A backyard trellis doesn’t have to be elaborate. Posts and sturdy horizontal wires can create a practical support system that serves the planting for years.

Where Should You Plant Triple Crown Blackberry

Choose a location with plenty of sunlight and well-drained soil. Full sun encourages vigorous growth and good fruit production.

Avoid planting in low areas where water remains around the roots after rainfall. Blackberries appreciate consistent moisture, particularly while establishing and developing fruit, but good drainage is important.

Also consider access. A blackberry planting tucked into a forgotten corner may seem convenient in winter. It won’t seem nearly as convenient when berries are ripening and you want to check the plants every day or two. Put your berries somewhere you can enjoy them.

How Do You Plant Triple Crown Blackberry

Before planting, prepare an area with good drainage and remove competing weeds. Position the plant so the root system can establish into the surrounding soil, water thoroughly after planting, and maintain consistent moisture during establishment.

Mulching around the planting can help conserve moisture, moderate soil temperature, and reduce weed competition. Leave a little breathing room immediately around the crown rather than piling mulch directly against the plant.

If you’re installing a trellis, doing that early can be much easier than trying to construct one through mature blackberry canes later.

How Should Triple Crown Blackberry Be Watered

Newly planted blackberries need consistent moisture while becoming established. Deep watering encourages roots to move outward and downward into the surrounding soil. As plants mature, adequate water becomes particularly important during flowering and fruit development.

Don’t allow newly planted blackberries to remain chronically dry—but don’t keep the root zone constantly saturated either. Moist, well-drained soil is the goal.

How Do You Prune Triple Crown Blackberry

Blackberry pruning makes much more sense once you understand the life cycle of the canes. The root system is perennial, but individual blackberry canes do not fruit forever. New canes develop, mature, produce fruit, and then the canes that have finished fruiting should be removed. That allows the plant to direct its energy toward healthy new growth that will support future crops.

Regular pruning also helps prevent overcrowding, improve air circulation, make harvesting easier, keep canes manageable, and remove old, unproductive growth.

Triple Crown’s vigorous growth makes good cane management particularly worthwhile.

Can Triple Crown Blackberry Grow in a Home Garden

Absolutely. You don’t need an orchard or commercial berry field to grow blackberries. A sunny section of the backyard with adequate room, good soil, and a simple support system can become a productive home berry patch.

Triple Crown is especially appealing when you want a blackberry that’s pleasant to work around because of its thornless canes and capable of providing a substantial harvest.

Should You Grow More Than One Blackberry Variety

You don’t have to—but there are good reasons to consider it. Different blackberry varieties ripen at different times. Rather than choosing four plants that all ripen together, you can select varieties that begin and finish their crops at different points in the season.

That can give you a succession of fresh berries instead of one enormous harvest that has you desperately searching for more freezer containers. An earlier variety such as Ponca combined with later Triple Crown is one example.

The garden doesn’t have to produce everything at once. Sometimes it’s much nicer when it doesn’t.

Quick Answers About Triple Crown Blackberry

Is Triple Crown Blackberry thornless?
Yes. Triple Crown produces thornless canes.

Are Triple Crown Blackberries sweet?
Yes. Triple Crown is prized for its large berries and rich, sweet blackberry flavor.

When does Triple Crown Blackberry ripen?
It is generally considered a later-season blackberry and can produce fruit over an extended harvest period.

Does Triple Crown Blackberry need a trellis?
A trellis or other support is recommended because Triple Crown produces vigorous semi-erect canes.

Does Triple Crown Blackberry need full sun?
A sunny planting location is recommended for strong growth and good fruit production.

Can Triple Crown Blackberry grow in a backyard garden?
Yes. Given adequate sunlight, drainage, growing space, and support, it can make an excellent home-garden berry plant.

Can Triple Crown Blackberries be frozen?
Yes. Enjoy them fresh, bake with them, preserve them, or freeze ripe berries for later use.

Can I grow Triple Crown with other blackberry varieties?
Yes. Combining varieties with different ripening seasons is a good way to extend your blackberry harvest.

Keep Blackberry Season Going a Little Longer

There’s an inevitable point every summer when you realize a favorite fruit is almost finished for the year. Triple Crown can help postpone that moment.

Its later harvest, large berries, excellent flavor, and thornless canes make it a wonderful companion to earlier-ripening blackberry varieties.

Plant it somewhere sunny. Give those vigorous canes support. And when the berries become fully ripe, take a bowl with you when you go outside.

Whether that bowl actually comes back to the kitchen full is another matter entirely.

Grow Triple Crown Blackberry at Home

Greenwood Nursery offers Triple Crown Blackberry in two forms during the year, giving gardeners the option of planting according to the season and their preference.

Potted Triple Crown Blackberry Plants — Available Year-Round
Our container-grown blackberry plants are available throughout the year for gardeners who prefer an actively growing potted plant.

Field-Grown Bare Root Triple Crown Blackberry Plants — Available Seasonally in Spring and Fall
Our field-grown bare root blackberry plants are dug and shipped during the appropriate dormant planting seasons in spring and fall.

Choose the option that works best for your garden and planting season.