Some, like blueberries, are not adapted to the alkaline soils that characterize most New Mexico gardens. For an uncommon small fruit, New Mexico gardeners can try tayberries, currants, gooseberries, elderberries, and bush cherries. The tayberry has a growth habit and a fruit similar to the loganberry, which in turn are similar to the blackberry. Fruit of the tayberry are borne on short, strong laterals on prickly canes 6 to 7 feet long. Tayberry fruit, like that of the raspberry and blackberry, is an aggregate fruit consisting of a collection of drupelets.
Plants are very vigorous and require a sturdy trellis for support.
Commercial yields can be heavy up to 12 tons per acre. Like a blackberry, the core remains in the berry when picked. Fruit are somewhat less acid than the loganberry with a strong, slightly tart flavor. Fruit can be eaten fresh or processed as jams or jellies. Tayberries make an excellent crop to grow under windows as a home security barrier because the canes are so prickly.