The Scourge of Seattle

The population of Seattle engages in an ongoing war with blackberries. When I first moved here I found it hard to believe because I grew up in such anticipation of blackberry picking with my mother and two sisters in northern Wisconsin. It was exciting to search for places where they grew wild. Searching isn’t necessary here in Seattle. Blackberries invade yards, cover hillsides, drape over trees, and creep over sidewalks and terraces. I have been led to believe they would overtake everything if left untended. Our son taught his boys, already when they were really small, to consider blackberry vines the enemy. The highly invasive Himalayan Blackberry and the Evergreen Blackberry are the ones that have been deemed most unwelcome. They form massive thickets with large, sharp thorns. The Trailing Blackberry is native and grows low to the ground. That one, I’ve never actually seen because the others are so pervasive. They scratch my legs and arms when I go past and that I don’t like but here’s the thing: Invasive or native, I have a hard time hating them. The berries on both are wonderful. Anywhere I take a walk, I can stop and grab a handful. They taste like summer.

Photo I took yesterday of blackberries crawling over a fence next to the sidewalk a few blocks from home