Raspberries and roses
It is early summer and I am being treated to a festival of sounds, sights and taste on my allotment plots. The sound is courtesy of the birds. Cherries are ripening, salad leaves are ready for harvesting, flowers of every kind, form and colour are putting on their best shows, and I have been gorging on waves of delicious strawberries. Roses are flowering, and some like my pink dog rose or Rosa canina, are beginning to form rosehips. It’s all going on! The summer is young, and there’s so much more to come …
The rose family of plants or Rosaceae have been particularly giving. I mentioned strawberries earlier - they belong to the rose family. So do apples and blackberries. And so do raspberries!
Raspberries are the edible fruits of a multitude of plant species in the genus Rubus of the family Rosaceae. They are woody perennials that thrive in moisture-retentive, but well-drained, fertile, slightly acidic soil. A sheltered sunny position is best. Yields will be reduced in light shade.
I have 15 raspberry bushes, 14 of which are summer fruiters, and include Rubus ‘Glen Moy’, Rubus ‘Glen Ample’ and Rubus’ Glen Prosen’. One, Rubus idaeus ‘Polka’, fruits in the autumn, giving me a very long season of fresh raspberries - if the birds will let me have any, that is! Some of the bushes are quite vast, so netting them off (and keeping the nets in place) has proved impractical for me. I do cover a few but have put my hands up and accepted that I’ll have to share the rest with the birds.
De-lish!
Raspberries ripening in the foreground. The magnificent, magenta Rosa ‘Super Excelsa’ in peak bloom in the background!
The pictures above and below show raspberries at different stages of development on plants. That’s a great thing about raspberries, meaning that I can come and go, feasting away over several days and weeks, even. I don’t get a ‘glut’ from any one plant as the fruits don’t all ripen at the same time. Suits me fine! If I do want a large amount to make a fruit salad, cake or preserve, I simply pick and choose from several bushes. How lucky am I?
Mmmmmmm …
I must say, the rose family of plants is diverse and so soooo generous!
The rose family or Rosaceae, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes herbs, shrubs and trees. There are at least 4,828 know species. In addition to the roses, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries mentioned earlier, other economically important members include Malus (apples), Prunus (plums, cherries, peaches, apricots, and almonds) and Crataegus (the hawthorns). Talk about diverse!
Here’s a bit more of what the Rosaceae family is up to on my plots at the moment. Enjoy!
