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!