If you let some of the longer canes touch the ground they will root themselves and form new plants. I love my black raspberry patch. The first year it was just a few scraggly short canes that I bought for about 5 bucks....the following few seasons it grew into a nice bush giving me a few handfuls of berries each year...last year it finally settled in and exploded with growth and I had enough berries for the kids to have about 1 and 1/2 cups for breakfast and the same amount to freeze(and some for me to snack on in the garden) just about every other day for the first 2 weeks of July. I ended up with enough frozen berries to make a batch of jam in the Fall when it cooled down. This year I am going to even have to prune back more than just the dead canes because it is getting out of hand, but I love those berries so I dont mind so much :-) Enjoy your Berries!! Donna :)

Heritage and other primocane (current season growth) bearers are OK to buy in pots, but it's a waste of money unless you are in a big hurry. I have sometimes planted local nursery sourced Heritage this way when it's too late to order BR's from a better source. My customers tend to not be very used to waiting for something they desire. You can plant a potted plant in June and get berries in the late summer into fall. Heritage doesn't seem to have much trouble with virus related disease so I don't know how important source is as long as plants are vigorous. Of course if you are also planting summer bearing types you would want to be sure all your plants are "clean". A healthy raspberry in a pot will have no trouble growing into soil and establishing into productive plants, in my experience, and I often throw some of my surplus into pots in case some customer wants some later or I don't have time to plant them in the spring at someone's site. Please disregard anything that I suggested about Caroline because my experience with it was at a problem site where nothing did well until I solved the problem. If you want sweet raspberries it is often helpful if canes are adequately thinned to about 6 to 9" apart. Excessive shading will reduce sugar whether it's caused by clouds, trees or other canes. There's bound to be some regional influence here, depending on how strong the sun is. It's been very rainy here but my Heritage summer crop has had better than usual quality because they rely on rain for all their water. Water is crucial to quality and quantity as well. Lots or rain is helpful right up to the week they start to ripen- then you hope it stops. A soaker hose or water delivered without wetting the fruit and nearby leaves will increase consistancy of yealds and quality considerably in the long term.

If they are mature then I think just clearing around them a few times a year is sufficient. Any food or water you could give them would be icing on the cake. I put layers of newspaper down with wood chips on top to suppress weeds and if you did that at the base and outwards some it would probably hold for a year at a time. I do that in wild areas of my yard where I don't want something to be overrun. However, you have to repeat the newspaper/mulch about once a year. Most important: keep it from getting overrun and keep it from dying of drought. It will survive the rest.

I did my undergrad research Thesis on Camassia quamash in the Willamette Valley several years ago. I studied many populations of quamash growing in pasture grass, and a few in places that could be considered 'lawns.' The camas comes up and blooms before the grass gets too long, so they appear to be fine as companians. As long as you can let your grass grow until late in the summer, I bet the Camas will do well. I would clear several inces of grass around each bulb when you plant to give it room to develop.