We have a young red mulberry (
Morus rubra) that deserves a mention this week. It's a small tree with slender, waving branches, and this week, all of the branches are covered in little berries. The tree was planted as a bare root sapling in the spring of 2013, making the tree at least 6 years old. For such a young tree, it is producing a lot of berries! You can find this specimen on the sunny, grassy slope north of Cline Hall. Help yourself to a few berries, but make sure you get the ripe (black) ones!
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| This fruiting red mulberry is growing in full sun, on a gradual slope, in clay soil. Thus far, no fertilizers have been used. During the long, hot summers, this area is soaked at least once a week by way of the in-ground irrigation system. |
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| The primrose volunteered here, and we have been cultivating it around the trunk of the red mulberry. |
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| The ripening berries appear alongside the new, yellow-green leaves. |
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| We are seeing a lot of berries! |
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| These berries aren't quite ripe yet. Wait until they turn black. |
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| The berries are approximately half an inch long. They are similar to the blackberries you find in the grocery store and also the wild, native dewberry. The red mulberry is the queen of our native fruits. |
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| The ripening dewberries are almost indistinguishable from the mulberries. The berry on the far left was collected from a dewberry patch, while the three berries on the right are mulberries. If you have the space, plant a a morus rubra and enjoy! |
