Wild Blackberries

I am happy the right moment has risen to write to you all. Last weekend I was away from home so I did not get an email out to you guys. Here I am now! Hopefully you are cozied up with a cup of tea or coffee when you get this on Saturday morning.

I’m amazed every year as to how short Spring is here in the Lowcountry. My sister, who lives in Massachusetts, and I were talking about the pace of Spring here compared to up North. There, you have a long drawn out Spring from bud swell, to violets blooming, to the grande finale of bulbs popping. Here, it feels about one week! We have Winter and Summer, and a short week of Fall and Spring in between.

This is the first week that the green has outnumbered the browns when I look out across the marsh and woods. The azaleas and daffodils are wrapping up their show in my area, and now there’s a sea of leaves emerging from everywhere there is Life. That’s the thing about the Lowcountry. Summer is all about foliage and not many flowers. But don’t worry the flowers we do have, we’ll talk about here in this journal.

One that is in full bloom right now is the Sand Blackberry, Rubus cuneifolius, what I simply call the wild blackberry.

You can find wild blackberries growing almost anywhere in the state, but you will be lucky to find berries on them because they are one of the most important summer