I’m no expert at growing blackberries but I sure do love eating them! I do have some bushed but don’t like that they are so leggy and feel like I have to keep cutting them back all the time. Then I read about this new type “thornless, primocane-fruiting” blackberry.
Summers when I was a kid, I have vivid memories of going out to the side of the heard and picking (and eating as fast as I could) loads of huge blackberries. I have no idea what variety they were, I was too young to care less. But I imagine that since we lived in an older house, they had probably been there for years. The only thing I didn’t love about picking them was getting stabbed by the sharp thorns. 
Thanks to breeders efforts, blackberries and raspberries are becoming more manageable for home gardeners to grow. The new varieties are more compact and need very little support. The new varieties have better flavor and are much sweeter than the older more tart berries.
Sweet Ark Ponca is one such variety. Remains at about 4-6 feet tall instead of the 12 feet tall older varieties.
The three new varieties are , Sweet Giant and Prime Ark Freedom. I have heard Sweet Giant yields fruit for 72 days. 
I got these two great Prime Ark Freedom Blackberries from Perfect Plants. I had never bought from them before. I am so glad I did. The plants came in “perfectly” packed. And huge plants! I will most definitely buy from them again!
Prime Ark Freedom and Sweet Giant bear fruit on both floicanes and primocanes. First fruits are ready to pick by the floricanes in early to midsummer, the floricanes die, and then the years newly emerged primocanes bear fruit in fall. And them the cycle repeats the next year.
WHAT ARE PRIMOCANES AND FLORICANES?
Primocanes are the first years shoots and floricanes are the second years shoots. Grow from the root system in the spring. Usually don’t bloom in the first year. Are thicker, fleshier, and green.
Floricanes bloom and set fruit the second year. In the spring, floricanes will have a lot of green berries, while primocanes will have none. Usually take 1-2 years to produce fruit, so be patient in the first year. Turn woody and brown before dying back. Have shorter spaces between the leaves on the canes. Have three leaflets per compound leaf.
Raspberries also fall into these categories. I have just ordered some and will get them into the ground as soon as they come.
I can’t wait for blackberries and raspberries!
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