Probably my favorite wild berry. Yum!
11 Likes
Oh gosh those are gorgeous! What do they taste like? Are they more closely related to raspberries or blackberries? Or, are they something all unto themselves? Very lovely and such a bright bright red!
Should I assume people make wine with them sometimes? Very nice looking fruit!
They are a type of raspberry native to Asia that has naturalized all over the eastern US. One of the few fruits that does well in full shade, they are super common at the edge of the woods in my area. They grow very similarly to black raspberries. Taste is like a raspberry but with less tartness. So delicious.
1 Like
I’m sure you could, no idea where the name came from. Maybe the color?
1 Like
Thanks, ampersand, sounds just like something I’d like, and that it can grow in the shade is a plus in my pretty heavily planted property. Think I’ll add these and Triple Crown bb’s to my Bababerries.
I’d dig them up and mail some to you, but I don’t think it’d be legal to Cali since they’d be ‘field grown’. Edible Landscaping sells them.
Don’t know how they’ll do in zone 10, though.
1 Like
Thanks ampersand. I’ll order some from Edible Landscaping. We’re very mild here so it will be interesting to see how they do. Our local raspberry is the Bababerry, which is very good.
3 Likes
Are yours especially prickly? Also, mine ripen to a darker color, but they came from a good reliable source and are easy to grow, but I don’t always get fruit from them. This year has been particularly good for these, though.
Scott
Mine have some nasty thorns too.
I was just eating some today. Ones the color pictured above are tart-sweet, while a dark red is mostly sweet (and pretty tasty). I eat both though, as if you wait for the dark red ones, they will often vanish to the birds.
The birds also help seed them everywhere- these are basically weeds around here. If I pull other weeds and leave them, my yard would be completely covered in a few years.
1 Like
This patch was pretty easy to pick, the canes were soft and fuzzy.
They do ripen to a deep red but the birds get those before people do.
My kids and I have been picking and eating some nearly everyday for the past couple of weeks. I wish I could collect enough at once to make something with them.
1 Like
I’ve got some shady spots here that might be good places to grow them. They look excellent!
Wineberries are essentially Japanese raspberries. They are rugged plants with nasty thorns.
They taste just like Bob describes.
They grow like weeds in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. and are considered an invasive species around here. They thrive in the Maryland mountains.
1 Like
Here’s a closeup of some thorns. They have a lot of fuzzies, but there are some real ones in there. Not as bad as wild blackberries, but you have to be careful.
They do well in shady spots. Here are some growing under the front porch overhang. It is on the North-East side of the house, so it gets only an hour or two of sun in the morning- what you see is about as sunny as it gets…
I’ve had better yields in the past. Here is a pic from 2013 from the same plant. I’m not sure how these escaped from the birds…
3 Likes
I grow them too. One I can actually grow at my cottage (it’s super shady).
1 Like
Finally ordered some today. We will see how they do in Kansas. I’m going to start with 10 plants. We can’t grow red raspberries at all so these may be life savers. Black raspberries even struggle at my location.
I’d plant them in a shady spot, good luck!
1 Like
Shady spots are much better for them than full sun? In Kansas gooseberries and currants require shade because the sun is to hot here. Honey berries were fine until summer and even watering them every day they cooked in the sun.
Wineberries grow in the woods (mostly edges) here in PA, quite shade tolerant.
1 Like