Good Berries, Bad Berries

Once it’s no longer wildflower season, it’s berry season. Thimbleberries at Lake Sammamish:

I like the many varieties of wild berries. Tasty raspberries in August at Olallie:

In Marysville BC, we found red huckleberries:

Blue huckleberries are everywhere under the canopy of mixed conifer forests.

That huckleberry photo is from Olympic National Park. And here’s a cranberry bush, which is related to the low bog cranberries cultivated commercially:

Finally, the invasive species berry that’s taking over WA, my old nemesis at Skyview, the prickly Himalayan blackberry. Here’s a photo from Oceanside, WA in mid August:

I like living in a world of beautiful, edible berries. But the Himalayan blackberries are a ubiquitous scourge upon the disturbed parts of the earth. They spread by suckers, by seed, and by growth. They crowd out the native vegetation. Their thorns make them poor habitat and difficult to eradicate. They are a Class C (worst) Invasive Species in Washington. And they’re prevalent along roads, in hedges, along wetlands. The one good thing I have to say about them is from Ecola State Park, OR. The dense thatch of blackberries along the coast there has kept foot traffic to a minimum and preserved the sandy soil from erosion. But mostly Himalayan blackberries invade and conquer.