Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)
Thimbleberry is both beautiful and delicious. It's one of the only shrubs in the Rubus (bramble) family and thornless to boot! In fact, it might be the softest Rubus in existence, with velvety soft maple like leaves. The flowers are a gorgeous pure white with a papery appearance and are loved by Bumblebees. The berries Thimbleberry produces are quite delicate, shallow dome shaped, raspberry-like, red caps. Delicious! The berries are lovely eaten fresh, but they can also be made into tasty jams or dried for later use. Should you opt to leave the berries song birds will cheer!
Thimbleberry can be grown in full sun (with mulch and occasional deep irrigation) - Full shade (little to no irrigation once established). They spread via rhizomes to form thickets (faster with regular moisture). Their vigorous growth makes them an excellent tall groundcover, effectively shading out most weeds and the expanding root system makes them a great selection for erosion control. Their flexibility in growing conditions means their wild companion plants are vast! They can be seen happily growing with Cascara, Big Leaf and Vine Maples, Douglas Fir, Salal, Blackcap Raspberry, Salmonberry, Snowberry, Elderberry, Fireweed, Pearly Everlasting, just to name a very few!
They make an excellent hedge plant generally growing 4-6 feet tall. Thimbleberry accepts pruning well, though you'll want to carefully select the branches (canes) you cut if your looking for berry production. Better fruit production occurs on 2 and 3 year old canes. When pruning, cutting out the oldest canes after fruiting is completed will leave you with an even number of one, two, and three year-old canes.
Thimbleberry is a favorite browse for deer, for which it is very well adapted. I recommend fencing your Thimbleberry until it's established if you live in deer country. It's vigorous rhizomal growth allows it to be successful despite the deer. Our property has very high deer pressure. While a deer fence is on my future to do list.. I have to be creative to try to keep them away from my crops and flower beds. My current experiment is growing up a large Thimbleberry thicket to encourage the deer to forage there rather than in my desired plants!
Each seed packet contains 100 seeds and germination instructions are included.
Thimbleberry at a glance
- Ave. growth dimensions - 4-6 ft tall x 3-6 ft wide
- Dormancy - Winter deciduous
- Plant type - Shrub
- Sun - Sun - shade
- Water - Moist - dry
- Flowering time - May - June
- Flower color - White- very light pink
- Soil preference - Adaptable, prefers moist fertile soil with good drainage