This morning I took a lap around the property with camera in hand. Here’s what I found.
Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
The “regular” milkweed is in bloom now. I have a lot of this stuff on our land now. When we first moved here, there were only three or four plants, but I let it grow. This year there are about a hundred of them. I’ve been eating them too, and like them very much!
But not as much as these:
Blueberries! (Vaccinium angustifoilium)
There are a lot of lowbush blueberry plants here, mostly in the woods (as were these). They do not produce a lot of fruit though, probably because they are in the woods where they don’t get a lot of sun.
The dewdrops are still blooming:
Dewdrop (Dalibarda repens)
And the sarsaparilla’s are producing fruit:
Sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis) fruit
The roots of sarsaparilla can be used to make a root beer, but the fruits are not edible.
The berries on the wintergreen plants that still have them are huge. They are about the size of a pencil eraser most of the year, but these two were the size of dimes.
Huge wintergreen berries
The wintergreen is getting ready to bloom. This one was the farthest along of any I saw today. I expect that by the end of the holiday weekend, they will open.
Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) ready to bloom
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July 4, 2014 at 6:51 pm
I haven’t seen any buds on the wintergreen here, or very many ripe blueberries either. It should happen any time now.
July 4, 2014 at 7:12 pm
Well, there was one handful less of blueberries when I finished my walk as compared to when I started. They tasted great though!
July 4, 2014 at 10:00 pm
There is a bumper crop of milkweed here this year too. THe only berries that are ripening yet are Service Berries and they are delicious.
July 4, 2014 at 10:25 pm
In addition to the blueberries, we have a few strawberries that are ripe now. But I think that’s about it for now (unless you include last year’s wintergreen).
July 5, 2014 at 5:56 pm
Love your photos…I have a couple of shrubs that produced there first crop of edible berries this year and I noticed as I walked by today that every berry is gone.
July 6, 2014 at 5:58 pm
That’s the problem I have with hazel nuts on my place. The fauna tends to eat them before they even get ripe!
July 11, 2014 at 10:27 am
Are there any extra wintergreen plants that I could relocate to VA? I planted 4 this spring, and lost half (so far). 😦
July 11, 2014 at 11:01 am
Yes, tons. I’ll dig some up for you. We can arrange the transfer via email.