Blackberry Season Has Arrived In Puget Sound, Thorns And All

SEATTLE, WA — Every year toward the end of every summer, right between giant spider season and wildfire season, Western Washington gets blackberry season. It's the time of year when forearm-thick canes covered in thorns stretch out over sidewalks and hiking paths bearing bundles of tart blackberries.

The blackberries are so abundant, it almost feels as if the medieval-looking plants have taken over the environment. No matter how you feel about the plant, it's probably best to take advantage of the free blackberries all around — the bushes are not native, but they're here to stay.

According to Steven Burke, manager of King County's noxious weed program, blackberries were brought to the Pacific Northwest over 100 years ago from Europe. There are two main species of blackberry here: the "parent" that came from Europe, and a hybrid of that European blackberry and the native Pacific Northwestern blackcap and trailing varieties. Those natives, along with salmonberry, another member of the blackberry family, don't produce as much fruit but are said to be sweeter than the European evergreen.

It's almost impossible to say who brought the blackberries here first, Burke said. The blackberries have been here for so long, total eradication of the invasive species at this point would be difficult.

The bushes are easy to ignore when seen from the highway or in your neighbor's yard. But if one of those thick, thorny stalks is creeping over your fence or blocking your walk through the park, what do you do?

"The big canes are intimidating, but they can be tracked to a root crown," Burke said. "You can track down the growth to the crown, and it's hard this time of year [because of the dry ground], but after fall rains, just get a pitchfork and pull it out."

Burke said that birds, mostly, spread the seeds of the evergreen blackberry around the region. The plants can also spread by sending shootings underground.

If the ground's too dry to dig up the blackberries, then there's nothing left to do but eat the fruit. Most blackberry bushes should be bearing ripe fruit at this point in the season. But to be sure, a ripe blackberry will be fully black and slightly soft to the touch. If the berry is squishy, it's probably over-ripe.

To learn more about noxious weed eradication, visit King County's resource center. And here's a link to some blackberry recipes.

This story was first published in July 2017. We're republishing it for the 2019 blackberry season.