BLACKBERRY PICKING IS A BLOOD SPORT

SLOW MOVING FRONT

RED TWIG DOGWOOD

BLACKBERRIES...SWEET BUT NASTY

Thursday,  8:00 AM.  74 degrees F, wind WNW, calm to very light.  The sky is cloudless but the humidity is 64% and the barometer again predicts rain, but it is a slow moving front.  It got hot yesterday, 90 degrees F in the shade.  I am painting and staining decks and porches and drying conditions were excellent.  Always look on the bright side.
    We went to dinner at Andy and Judy’s camp, simple fare; Joan’s German potato salad, bratwurst, and fixin’s.  Andy and I picked blackberries to go with honey dew melon for desert. The berries  could be more plump but are very sweet.  We entered the blackberry patch bravely, and exited with a pint of berries and a number of open wounds.  As I have said before, blackberry picking is a blood sport.  Buddy even had his fill of running through thickets and woods.
    Red twig dogwood has been blooming for a while and soon will begin to set fruit.  Indian tribes smoked the dried bark mixed with tobacco for various ailments, and the dogwood species in general were used for various lung and stomach complaints.  The dogwoods (Cornaceae, the dogwood family) in general are useful landscape plants, but the red twig, or red osier dogwood, Cornus stolonifera, is best used only for naturalizing large wet areas, as it spreads far too readily in most landscapes.  C. ‘Bailey’ or ‘Cardinal’ are selections that do not spread as readily and can be a better choice; the red twigged species and varieties are very colorful additions to the winter landscape, and the flowers and berries add summer and fall interest.