Blackberries and the West Coast, a Love/Hate Story

It’s August on the west coast. It’s hot and it’s dry, and on just about any given walking or hiking trail, you can smell the distinctly rich, sweet and tangy aroma of blackberries filling the warm air. You can see bunches of honey bees collecting pollen from the blackberry flowers, and clutches of quails scurrying into their hideouts inside the blackberry bushes. Fresh cobblers and jams are being made in homes, children’s fingers are covered in deep red juice stains from hours of picking and munching.

Growing up in northern California, blackberry bushes were always around me. I have such fond memories of picking blackberries with my friends as a kid, bringing home a big, heavy basket full and making pie and fruit smoothies at home with my mom.

They were such a normal part of my existence, I had no idea that they weren’t a native plant here in the U.S. until I was a young adult. As it turns out, the species of blackberry we commonly see is the Himalayan Blackberry (actually from Armenia. Confusing, but ya know, humans, what are you gonna do). The plant thrives in our climate, and competes with native plants for root space and nutrients. It spreads unforgivingly through woodlands and even across roads if allowed to grow without interference. It can create impenetrable barriers that block some wildlife from water and food. In just a matter of weeks, a tiny sprout of blackberry bush can take over a large section of your yard if you aren’t careful.

The Himalayan Blackberry was brought over to Europe from Armenia in 1835, where people found it to be a beneficial crop to grow before realizing how it could become a noxious weed. Fast forward to 1885, and the famous Luther Burbank comes along and brings the Himalayan Blackberry to the U.S. He wanted crops that could withstand shipping for long periods of time, and boy did he find one. He found one that can seemingly withstand just about anything. These delicious berries had successfully seduced him, so he sold the seeds in his popular seed catalog to customers all over the west coast. The seeds then spread and reproduced rapidly. In fact, the seeds can be dormant in soil for several years before they sprout.

I grew up in and around Luther Burbank’s city of Santa Rosa, California and have visited his historic home and gardens many times. He was a fascinating character, responsible for creating 800 strains and varieties of plants, including the famous Russet potato and the Santa Rosa plum. and I can understand why he was intrigued by the blackberry. I can honestly say that blackberries are one of my favorite flavors that exist on planet earth. My mouth begins to water just thinking about them. Burbank created 16 variants of the Blackberry, including one that was white, but was unsuccessful and a bit less flavorful than its darker relative, and some that were thornless. The thornless varieties are still quite popular amongst gardeners who wish to have a pain-free berry experience. Unfortunately, this is not the variety that has rapidly spread up and down the west coast.

Efforts to eradicate Himalayan blackberries from our wild lands have been largely unsuccessful. It blows my mind that people still buy bushes at our local nurseries, when we have them literally all around us, and cannot stop them from spreading. But the fact is, they’re likely here to stay. While they aren’t native, they’ve now been a part of our ecosystem for more than 200 years. Pollinators and birds love them, and they’re full of nutrients and bursting with flavor. There are plenty of advantages to having them around, as long as we can keep them properly managed and mitigate the threats to our native plants as much as possible.

If you have wild blackberry growing on your property, keep it trimmed back tightly. It will grow rapidly and you’ll need to trim it back often. You can do this on your own, or you can use goats for an eco-friendly and efficient way to keep them controlled. Goats love eating blackberry brambles and are highly efficient at it. If you’re not interested in having your own goats, check your area for goat rentals. Yes, renting goats is a thing. In Sonoma County, our parks management even uses borrowed herds of goats to clean up brush and brambles. Not only will they keep the brambles down, they’ll even eat your poison oak. There is absolutely no reason to use poisonous herbicides which are harmful to other plants, insects and wildlife around the brambles. Herbicides can also affect your soil health and, if you grow anything at all, you know how important and delicate soil health is.

Love to hate them or hate to love them, it seems that Himalayan blackberries are here to stay, and I think we can live with that. Californians are both grateful and resentful of this amazingly hardy relative of the rose, which has been a big part of all of our lives who have grown up here on the west coast. I have just made my first batch of jam for the year, with more berries waiting in the freezer. The season goes quick, so get out there and collect some of that juicy, rich fruit while you still can. Thanks a lot, Luther Burbank! I mean that both sarcastically and literally.

Get my low-sugar blackberry jam recipe