Plant · P-022

Blackberry

Rubus fruticosus

Blackberry is a thorny, fast-spreading bramble whose canes fruit in their second year, then die back after cropping. The berries are the main draw - eaten fresh or cooked into jams and syrups from midsummer into late autumn - and the young leaves make a tea while spring shoots can be peeled and eaten raw. It roots wherever a cane tip touches the ground and suckers from its base, so a planting spreads into a thicket unless the margin is mown or grazed. Established plants tolerate deep shade, wind and poor soil, though fruiting drops off away from full sun.