BRAMBLES

[Jacksparrow]

I have had a bramble at the rear of my property ever since I've lived here(29 years and counting). I've always accepted that it was my duty to keep it under control and to that end have pruned it right back every autumn. My reward was a crop of very tasty Blackberries Last autumn,however, some workmen turned up to get rid of the Ivy on the lock-up garages immediately behind my back fence. Not only did they deal with the ivy but took it upon themselves to take the brambles down to ground level too. I feared the worst but I'd under-estimated the brambles will to re-establish it's presence. This year it has grown with a vigour I've never before witnessed saddling me with the problem of keeping it withing bounds. My reward for all the extra work was not a single berry. Nor did it produce any blossom(always a favourite with the Bees)
Isn't nature wonderful!

[Placido]

What a fascinating yet tragic tale .

Ahem ~ brambles flower and fruit on SECOND-year growth so you might wish to invest in a small but informative booklet entitled, "What to do with a million tons of berries". Wow, will you be busy this time next year.

Do A deal and we can all have bramble-flavoured HB (now there's a novelty)

[Jacksparrow]

It is my intention to prune it back a per usual later this year but not a drastically as last year. Hold fire on the Bramble HB plans until fruiting time next August.

[Jacksparrow]

During a lockdown walk today we noticed the quite a few of the brambles were blossoming again There are very few leaves on the bushes so the blossom looks very odd.

[Charles B]

From my earliest childhood, I have held a profound admiration for the Rubus armeniacus brambles, whose vigorous growth has, as one will be aware, quite entirely claimed the landscape of the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

It was, therefore, inevitable that I should desire to cultivate these noble plants within the confines of my own garden here in the north of Germany. Alas, the several thornless varieties to which I first turned my attention met with nothing but failure.

In due course, however, I made the acquaintance of the most formidably thorned cultivar known as ‘Theodore Reimers.’ Without hesitation, I established these stalwart specimens just beneath the window of my daughter’s bedroom — which, in time, was graciously transformed into our dining room.

Each passing year sees them increase in both vigour and majesty, though, Providence be thanked, each plant produces but a solitary, robust primocane annually, which in the following year bears an abundant yield.

Their fruit is ready for the earliest of harvests, whereupon I make it my practice to cut back the spent floricanes by the close of August only leaving their heavy primocanes for the following year's crop. These plants would indeed create a 'jungle' straight away if I had not.

These industrious brambles have thus far been so bountiful as to reward us with three splendid harvests this year.

Most curious of all, the many various birds that so freely frequent our grounds have, for reasons unbeknownst to me, declined entirely to partake of them.

[Charles B]

The bramble berries were our food,
The water was our wine,
And the linnet in the self same bush,
Came after us to dine.

And grow it in the woods sae green,
Or grow it on the brae,
We like to meet the bramble bush,
Where'er our footsteps gae.

---------------------------------------------
Alexander Mackenzie
Historical Tales and Legends of the Highlands
(1878)

[Jacksparrow]

My bramble continues to thrive despite being hacked back every winter. The berry crop far exceeds my needs so the birds are the main beneficiaries. The bramble has also now become part of my garden security. My back gate had become an invitation to unwanted guests of the light fingered variety. Locks were a waste of time as the uninvited just climbed over and several attempts had been made to kick the gate open. The bramble has now been trained behind the gate and over it. I had one attempted entry this year but they didn't get far. Ain't nature wonderful?

[Charles B]

Indeed they afford most admirable protection: my cherished Theo Reimers bramble primocanes are fatter than a man’s thumb and bristle, moreover, with nasty thorns — even upon the undersides of their leaves.

To fortify the western edge of my balcony area, some years ago I planted a dense thicket of exceedingly thorny gooseberries meeting up with my old rose garden with one of it's bushes now towering over two metres.

Alas, should I ever be compelled to make a hasty descent in the event of a fire, I fear that, as the saying goes, I shall have drawn the short straw.

The raspberries on my balcony, though equally well armed with painful barbs, do not trouble the birds in the least; I myself merely don a pair of blue hospital gloves to engage with them safely.