image of elderberry by axiepics, gooseberry by aloalosabine, and blackberry by Anders L Lundberg

I am adding berries to my garden, but my intentions stretch beyond the ordinary – I am planting three things – Elderflower, Gooseberries, and Blackberries – and I am excited about each for different reasons.

images of elder berries and elder flower by Jim-AR

Elder flower cordial was one of those things that when living in England I became very curious about. Seems all Brits know what it is, have had it sometime, and might even know someone who has made it, where as none of this is true for most Americans.  So I am obviously intrigued.

I learned recently that Elderberry also has significant flu fighting qualities.   I wish I had actually planted Elder a few years ago so that I could be harvesting it and making my H1N1 Swine Flu elixir right now (following the recipe advice of Magpie Eats).  So for this winter I will have to resort to Sambucol should the flu strike.  But next winter….

Elderberry syrup recipe available at chiotsrun blog and image by Chiot’s Run

The exciting part is that Sambucus nigra (Black Elder) is one of those plants that, if placed well in the garden, can stop me in my tracks.  I really love the feathery black cut leaves of this sizable shrub and the flowers are quite striking.

BTW, that Elderberry syrup is canned in Weck jars – which I am currently obsessed with (tis the canning season).  Check out this post to find out more about them.

image by sonicwalker

Gooseberries make me think of nothing else but my grandmother and mother.  Apparently when my mother was little, she would pick gooseberries from bushes that grew along Spring Creek, which runs through my gran’s ranch in Montana.  As a child, I spent summers on the ranch and frequently, both with my mother and without, would set out to pick gooseberries along the creek.  I so wanted to relive what my mother had done in her youth.   A childhood of going gooseberry picking and we never found the bushes. Not even once. They must have died away, or perhaps we never hit them in the right season.   So now, I have been passed, by mother, this little obsession with gooseberries.  If ever I see a jar of gooseberry jam I have to buy two – one for my mom and one for me – it is like finding the thing that we never did for so many years.

So as an adult, with 6 acres on which I can plant whatever I want, I am planting gooseberries, so that my daughter – and maybe my mother too – can go picking these elusive berries.  Maybe I can break the cycle.

image by *Cinnamon

Earlier this summer, while across the road at Carlson Orchards — our U-pick neighbor farm that we are so blessed to be able to visit whenever we want — one of the brothers that owns the place told us about their blackberry thicket.   We felt so privileged to be invited to pick (for free) all that we could stand.  ‘Could stand’ because if you have ever picked blackberries, you know about their crazy grabby thorns.  They hook you and don’t let go.

I simply love blackberries.  I love to look at them as much as I love to eat them.  So after this first experience of picking, and seeing as they grow so well just across the road, I am planting my own.   Except I have a plan…rather than plant them in this big round area, like my neighbors,  I will plant them in a very thin line…so that everything is reachable without too much thicket pain and they will hopefully be easier to pick.

image by Martina-craftyna

image by Rosina