Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
← Explore Plants
Plant · P-446
Thimbleberry
Rubus parviflorus
Thimbleberry is a thornless bramble native along the Pacific coast from Alaska to northern Mexico, with outlying stands in the Black Hills and around the Great Lakes. Unlike the rest of its genus it carries no prickles at all, which makes it far easier to pick and handle. The soft red thimble-shaped berries are sweet but very seedy, eaten raw, cooked into jam, or dried, and the young shoots can be peeled and eaten like asparagus. It spreads by an extensive rhizome network that resprouts quickly after fire or cutting, so it needs cool, consistently moist ground and struggles wherever summers turn hot and dry.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 3–7
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moist
Vertical layer
Shrub- Soil pH
- 4.8–7.2
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 4–8 ft
- Mature spread
- 4–8 ft
- Plant spacing
- 3–6 ft
- Root type
- Rhizome
- Spread pattern
- Root
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Agarita
Alloberberis trifoliolata
Agarita is a dense, spiny-leaved evergreen shrub of rocky limestone hills, slopes and thickets from south Texas through the Trans-Pecos to…
Shrub · USDA 7–9
American Beautyberry
Callicarpa americana
American Beautyberry is an arching deciduous shrub of rich woods, moist thickets and swamp edges across the southeastern and south-central…
Shrub · USDA 6–10
American Black Currant
Ribes americanum
American black currant is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub native to the cooler parts of eastern and central North America, from Alberta to…
Shrub · USDA 3–7
American Elderberry
Sambucus canadensis
American Elderberry gives two harvests a year - creamy flower clusters in June for cordial, fritters and tea, and purple-black berries in…
Shrub · USDA 4–8
American Gooseberry
Ribes hirtellum
American gooseberry is a low, multistemmed shrub native from Labrador and Manitoba south to Maryland and Iowa, and the wild parent behind…
Shrub · USDA 4–6
American Hazelnut
Corylus americana
American Hazelnut is a thicket-forming shrub that bears small, thick-shelled nuts good raw or cooked, and it pollinates itself, so a single…
Shrub · USDA 4–9
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference