A prickle: salmonberry

Bramble & Briar #107

Continuing to catalogue plants I’ve not got

A tough one to guess…

The notion of my garden being bramble free is, clearly, ridiculous. But the brambles here are wild, and fierce (if admittedly, for two weeks in summer, generous with their fruit), whereas this bramble appears refined and, quite frankly, a little on the dreamy side.

In reality, this particular salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis ‘Olympic Double’) from North American is probably just as wild and fierce as its native British cousins, appearing in Schedule 9 of the UK Wildlife & Countryside Act where all the naughty plants hang out together, smoking and smirking and heckling passers-by, under a banner which reads ‘invasive non-native species’.

Prettiest thicket I ever did see

Which is as may be, but just for now, let’s admire the flowers. Look at that. A fully double, flouncy pink thing, on cinnamon-coloured stems bursting politely into bright green leaf in such a way as to offset the beauty of the blossom, rather than to try to drawn attention from it. A pretty bramble, that flowers in spring – what’s not to like? Ok, it’s a bramble. It has prickles, and runs at the roots. The word ‘thicket’ invariably puts in an appearance quite prominantly in any description.

But still, I say. A pretty bramble, that flowers in spring. And copes with woodland edge shade. Here, take my money...

If anyone wants me, I’ll be found at the heart of the pretty, pink-flowered bramble thicket.

Catching the rays. Salmonberry is one of those plants that can lend a sense of airy presence to the garden

Like the blackberry, the fruit of the salmonberry is edible – though red, and bearing more of a resemblance to their raspberry relatives

the first prickle felt…