Ouch ! It has to go.

FREE FOR THE TAKING, NO DELIVERY.
I have a nice little currant-gooseberry cross from Raintree, called, I believe, Orus-8. It has been in a pot for two years (after a neighbors runaway rabbit dined on it) and has a nice crop of sweet black fruit, and thorns. The fruits have a stem and 'tail' that persist and need plucking, a carryover from the gooseberry I would guess, and thorns. It has done surprisingly well potted, well I do too for that matter. lol That in itself is a testament to its tenacity, and thorns. This morning while weeding before the heat was too terrible the bloody beast (said lovingly) nailed me three times with its thorns. No where near as formidable as those on Encephalartos horridus, they are just too pointy for my close quarter gardening and its either it or me, and I ain't going. SO, should there be anyone wishing to take this creature off my hands, D-mail me and I would be very grateful. Otherwise it goes in the Yard Waste container to be composted by big noisy machines, a very ignoble end for a nice decorative food plant.

Ouch! It looks so tasty. I'd love to give it a home, but it might be weeks before I'd ever get to Marysville from West Seattle. On the other hand, if you live within range of the pies at the Village Inn, I might be persuaded...Is the fruit pretty tasty? I recently tried some salal berries in a public garden, and I swear they taste better than my blueberries. Anybody ever tried growing salal on purpose?

Vel, we are a couple miles down the road from the Village Inn, and yes, their pies are famous, perhaps not as much as Mrs. Baxters at the old location decades ago, but still yummy. The fruit is surprisingly good. Firm and sweet but with a persistent stem and 'tail'. You are welcome to it, but as stated, it has a short residency in this yard.

Vel, I have a lot of salal in my yard and I eat the berries all the time. A little fuzzy for a lot of people but the taste is great if they are well ripened. Never did try picking a lot for the fridge or pies.

I had no idea you could eat Salal berries-if mine ever get big enough (right now one berry might overbalance the plants...) I'll have to give them a try!

Balvenie, I'm with you on thorns-they've just gotta go. :)

I have tons of salal, but haven't ever even thought of tasting the berries. I have a bumper crop of deciduous huckleberry this year too. I have a lotta pickin' to do this weekend.

Salal berries are very good for you.

Paghat's garden again has a very interesting article with pictures of salal. At the bottom she talks a little about harvesting the berries. She says it's often better to wait for a frost or two before harvesting . .

http://www.paghat.com/salal.html

I have an Orus-8 also, but it is in the ground, about 2 feet tall and growing. The berries are quite sweet and tasty. There are apparently some thorn-less gooseberries that I might try some day.

Katie, the link about salal is just great--very informative. I will say, though, that I was eating very tasty and sweet berries three weeks ago. There must be different subspecies around here. I think I would want to taste the berries before committing my garden to a plant that just might become a garden thug.

Back to the do's and don'ts---DO watch out for garden thugs. How many times have I carefully nurtured a plant, only to have it run amok? Number one is the gorgeous red-orange poppy. Becomes very labor intensive if you ever decide to get rid of it, because the seeds will broadcast themselves before you can say 'boo'. When you go to dig them up, there is always a succession of tiny plants underneath, ready to sprout. It's like a horrible nightmare from which there is no awakening. Still admire the flowers, of course, but a bit less so now.... after bloom time, you just go around and yank them, otherwise, there's nothing there but a big old dried up weed.

Jupiter's Beard, although a lovely variety of pinky to almost fuschia flowers, maybe even white, really ran rampant, even into the lawn. The root system produced some mondo-looking things that looked like they were attempting to turn into turnips. Lots of people love these and have no problem, but when neighbors asked for starts, I turned them down flat. What a meanie!

Ugh. I have so much native salal. And it's roots do go deep - it's encroaching from the forest next door and I can't really pull it out. In the front of my property, which is still pretty wild, it's grown tall and gangly. Eventually, I'll prune it much shorter and see if that helps.

I love Jupiter's Beard - didn't know it could be a thug.

I got some arum italicum at the Green Elephant plant swap last fall. I decided to do some research before planting and it's a good thing. Turns out there are lots of morning glory/bindweed seeds in that soil. I think I'll pass . . .

katie, you can prune salal back and it is quite beautiful all year. Makes a good bank covering or transition plant from woodland to open space. Use it instead of English Ivy under fir trees for ground cover. Evergreen and cheap is a good plant.