I haven’t posted here in years but I check in fairly regularly. I love berries and have grown them for many years. I love hunting for new ones, both wild and just new to me. I have found some really interesting berries over the years but it’s been quite awhile since I’ve actively looked for something new.
Today, I went for a walk and I came across lots and lots of wild berries but 2 of them were really interesting. The first one is thornless and has a really interesting growth habit. It appears to be a primocane fruiting variety, at least here in Santa Barbara. However, at basically the same time, the floricane crop is also flowering. I love the really heavy clusters of flowers. I haven’t had any ripe berries from this one yet but I’ll keep checking back.
Then I found a second wild berry. They appear to be one type as most berries tasted about the same but the interesting thing is that, along with the thorny canes, there are intermingled thornless ones and the berries taste exactly the same. These were long, some almost 2” and when fully ripe, they are very soft and have a similar, complex flavor like Marionberry.
I also have a few new varieties that have been shared with me recently and I’ve really been enjoying them. Wyeberry, Newberry and Youngberry. I’m enjoying all 3 but Wyeberry is my favorite of those 3. It’s similar to Tayberry but not as good so far. Tayberries are just amazing when fully ripe. It’s like eating the most aromatic berry mixed with rose. 
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Wow that is A really nice find! Are those black berries? Those are some nice big berries, and a seedless berry would be something! Get a cutting of that plant and grow it out!
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Very cool! Thanks for sharing!
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Oops. I meant thornless. However, I did find a practically seedless one in Missouri. They were tiny and soft. Kind of like those little flavor crystals that burst in gum.
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Beautiful berries! I’ve never seen a blackberry that flowers in large clusters like that. Are you going to collect any of these for home cultivation?
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Yes. I have a couple growing of the large cluster one and I just dig up a start of the other today
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my wild canadian/ smooth blackberry i planted in my yard is currently flowering in clusters like that. will be the 1st time i have them in cultivation. in the wild the berries are pretty small but they are prolific and tasty. I’m excited to try them. they are the only wild blackberry that grows up here. those are some monsters Eric! I’m so jealous!
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So those ones that bloom in clusters are also thornless?!? Score! Are they trailing or somewhat erect? The othe other variety, the primocanes are flowering in summer?!
That’s right. They are both thornless. I live in Santa Barbara so our season is a bit different but, yes, they are flowering primo canes already
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Wow, that’s a lucky find! I should prob do a little searching myself. My friend has a piece of property that has wild blueberries and blackberries growing on it, I should ask to do some scouting.
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It is very rare to find a truly useful wild plant. Those blackberries look interesting to say the least.
I found a wild thorny upright blackberry last year that blooms 3 to 4 weeks earlier than normal for this area. I dug up a clump and brought it home earlier this year. I want to see if the trait is perhaps useful to breed an earlier maturing large fruited thornless blackberry. There is nothing else special about this plant. It makes small ordinary blackberries and it is loaded with thorns. But if it represents genetics that can produce fruit 3 to 4 weeks earlier than any other variety, it is potentially a very useful plant.
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i found a tiny wild gooseberry growing in full shade under my pines a few years ago. i dug it up and put in a gal pot. this spring i planted it in the yard. it set a few berries. its the 1st Ribes I’ve ever seen wild here so anxious to see what the berries are like. has tiny leaves like my crandal clove and my jeanne gooseberry. if they’re no good ill pull it and plant something else.
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Yea, blackberries aren’t native to my region (But blueberries are). birds spread seeds that are open pollinated, so growing wild since no one is doing anything to select or maintain. Over time, the new plants are adapted for the area.
I’m a geek and a fisherman, I get it. I feel there’s a big difference between a wild native brook trout and a stocked fish. I get annoyed when I see people call stocked fish natives. Even if they are native to the state, doesn’t mean that the tank scrubbers that get stocked into a put and take stream can be called a native trout. Or worse, calling a wild spawned fish that aren’t from the region a native.
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until 3 yrs. ago, i didn’t think blackberries were either until i found the canadian/ smooth blackberry patch growing in a clearing. only after researching did i find out what it was. the berries are small but they are prolific and tasty. survived -35f 3 years ago with no damage. I’m not particularly fond of tank scrubbers either. luckily Maine has one of the last truly native brook trout fisheries in the country. we got one trolling last year 4lbs 5oz. and several around 3.5lbs this spring. all are still swimming. i prefer the taste of invasive perch and crappie over trout anyway and theres no limit on them here.
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@moose71 Wait, you found Canadian thornless blackberry in Maine? I’m in Portland lol. Also, cool about those gooseberry, I’m very interested in ribes myself since I want currants, but can’t have them here.
yeah thats sucks about Ribes. we can have gooseberries, crandal cloves and red and whites up here . just not Ribes nigrum. we don’t have the density of white pines like you guys have. have you ever been to the Ft. Knox near Bucksport? if you walk down to the bottom near the water on the left there is another huge patch of canadian blackberries. can’t mistake them. they have very dark green leaves and marroon stalks about 6 ft. long with very little or no thorns. my wife had to coax be out of that patch as it was hot that day and those berries were so good!
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No I haven’t been there. I’ll try to keep that in mind and maybe take a cutting if I’m in the area lol.
On another note, I mentioned it in the regional fruit thread, but my friend sent me a pic of an entire area covered with wild blueberries.
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they are very common here as well. as a kid we used to go out and pick them. i have brunswick low bush growing in my yard.
What a great find. Thanks for the pictures. Now, I’ll pay a bit more attention when walking or out on my bike!
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