RASPBERRIES AND BLACKBERRIES ARE BLOOMING

RASPBERRY FLOWERING BRANCH...

...RASPBERRY FLOWERS

Tuesday, 8:00 AM.  64 degrees F at the ferry dock, 58 on the back porch.  Wind WNW, gusty at times.  The sky is clear, the humidity 78%, and the barometer is still rising, now at 30.01." It is a fine day.
   Wild raspberries and blackberries are in bloom now in hedgerows, woods edges and roadsides.  The raspberries and blackberries (brambles) are species and varieties of the genus Rubus, in the Rose Family.  There are hundreds of species and varieties throughout our range, and except for a few that are more easily identified by heir fruit, I will leave them to the taxonomists expert in that area.
   Suffice it to say that most folks are only interested in the blackberries and raspberries when they bear their edible fruit, but the flowers are beautiful and often fragrant as well, and some species are covered with blooms at this time, and make a real statement in the landscape.
   One may think there is little way to identify one white flowering shrub from another from a distance, but if one becomes familiar with duration and sequence of bloom, it is really quite simple to make a good guess, even from a speeding auto.