Raspberry Jungle

Raspberries Gone Wild

I have lost count of the hours I've spent trying to tame the tangle of raspberry bushes we inherited. Their existence and abundance are partly why I fell in love with this house. We had raspberry bushes in our garden in Colorado that I would pick through every other day in July. If I was lucky, my neighbor Ann and her family would go on vacation when her berries were ripe and I could pick quarts of berries that I would freeze and eat throughout the winter. If I was really lucky, she would be home and make her fabulous jam and share that with me.

One of three wheelbarrows full
of raspberry trimmings

The raspberry bushes were so overgrown, that as I cut back the dead canes and thinned out four rows of bushes, I hoped that the berries had been neglected for several years and that this amount of maintenance doesn't recur annually. But I'm not complaining. Not at all. I loved every minute of it -- and I was able to get caught up on several of my favorite podcasts.

A rain-free day wasn't all work. It also allowed me to explore the latest new blooms.

Siberian Iris (Iris Sibrica)
"Caesar's Brother Blue"

Yellow Flag Iris
(Iris Pseudacorus)

Any day now, the peonies in the right center of this
photo will explode - stay tuned