Cold hardiness & minimum temperature

Is Cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus)cold hardy? Hardiness zone & min temp

Also called cloudberry, bakeapple, yellow berry.

More about cloudberry

About Cloudberry

Rubus chamaemorus · also called cloudberry, bakeapple · edible

Cloudberry is a low, creeping Arctic and sub-Arctic perennial of peat bogs and tundra, spreading by rhizomes rather than canes. Dioecious plants bear single white flowers and prized amber, raspberry-like berries with a tart, honeyed flavour. Demanding to cultivate, it needs cold summers and acidic, permanently moist peat, and both male and female plants for fruit.

Cold limit: USDA 2-7 (outdoor; needs cool summers) · RHS H7 (Extremely cold-hardy to about -40°C; needs cool summers below ~24°C)

What cloudberry's hardiness rating actually means

Yes — cloudberry is genuinely cold hardy. Rated RHS H7 and USDA 2-7 (outdoor; needs cool summers), it lives outdoors all year and needs winter cold rather than protection from it. Its RHS rating of H7 means: Hardy in the severest European continental winters. On the US scale that maps to USDA 2-7 (outdoor; needs cool summers) — the zones where it can be left outdoors year-round.

New to these scales? The USDA hardiness zone map explained covers how the zone numbers work, and you can find your own zone with the zone finder.

Minimum temperature — and what happens below it

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly below about −20 °C. Cloudberry is built for winter — once established it takes hard frost and snow in its stride.

Concretely, for cloudberry as it gets too cold:

It tolerates winter lows to about −20 °C once established.
Below its rated zone, the visible damage is browned or blackened top growth and, in the worst case, a killed crown or root.
First-year, newly planted, or container-grown specimens are noticeably less hardy than established garden plants — the roots are exposed.

Can cloudberry go outside or overwinter — and where?

Plant it out within USDA 2-7 (outdoor; needs cool summers) and it overwinters with little or no help.
It does not want to come indoors — a warm winter room actually weakens a hardy plant by denying it dormancy.
The real risks in its range are waterlogging, wind-rock on young plants, and a late hard frost on new growth — not ordinary winter cold.

Work back from your local frost dates with the frost-date calculator: the last spring frost and first autumn frost are what really decide when cloudberry can be outside. US growers can check USDA zones; UK growers should use the RHS hardiness ratings, which match the H7 figure above.

Cloudberry hardiness — frequently asked questions

Is cloudberry cold hardy?

Yes — cloudberry is genuinely cold hardy. Rated RHS H7 and USDA 2-7 (outdoor; needs cool summers), it lives outdoors all year and needs winter cold rather than protection from it. An outdoor plant. Cloudberry is hardy across USDA 2-7 (outdoor; needs cool summers); it belongs in the ground or a frost-proof container, not on a windowsill, and many types actively need a cold winter to perform.

What is the minimum temperature cloudberry can survive?

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly below about −20 °C. Cloudberry is built for winter — once established it takes hard frost and snow in its stride.

What hardiness zone is cloudberry?

Cloudberry is rated USDA 2-7 (outdoor; needs cool summers) and RHS H7 — Hardy in the severest European continental winters.

Can cloudberry survive winter outside?

Plant it out within USDA 2-7 (outdoor; needs cool summers) and it overwinters with little or no help. It does not want to come indoors — a warm winter room actually weakens a hardy plant by denying it dormancy. The real risks in its range are waterlogging, wind-rock on young plants, and a late hard frost on new growth — not ordinary winter cold.

What happens to cloudberry below its minimum temperature?

It tolerates winter lows to about −20 °C once established. Below its rated zone, the visible damage is browned or blackened top growth and, in the worst case, a killed crown or root. First-year, newly planted, or container-grown specimens are noticeably less hardy than established garden plants — the roots are exposed.