For Midwestern home gardeners and naturalists, just for fun! All my observations, photos, musings etc. on this website are centered on our 10 acres (named Shepherd Glen) in Jackson County Missouri, but I have found that observations (and frustrations) in our area translate pretty well throughout the Midwest.
Contact: askdrdoug@gmail.com
VISITORS OF DR. DOUG
Common "Berries"
Berries show up both summer and fall, providing food for us (black raspberries) and wildlife.
Bush Honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii)
Bush honeysuckle is a tall fast-growing shrub known for its white fragrant flowers in Spring and red berris in Summer. It is an invasive species forming dense thicks that outcompete native plants for sunlight an nutrients.
American Beautyberry
(Callicarpa americana)
American Beautyberry is a native deciduous shrub known for its bright purple berries in the fall.
American Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens)
American Bittersweet is a woody vine known for its showy orange-yellow fruit capsules that split open to reveal red, waxy seed in fall.
Wild Gooseberry
(Ribes missouriense)
Thorny shrub that produce edible, tart berries that turn purple when ripe.
Wild Grape (Vitus spp.)
Perennial vining plant, that in abundance can out-compete overstudy trees for sunlight and cause limbs to break from weight of vines.
Raccoon Grape
(Ampelopsis cardata)
Woody vine climbing by tendrils rapidly growing to lengths of 50 - 60 feet per year. The most aggressive native vine. Berries change colors from green to purple to dark blue.
Bristly Greenbriar
(Similax spp.)
Woody vine known for their thorny stems and heart-shaped leaves. Fruits are blue to black berries in globe-shaped clusters.
American Black Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)
Tall brittle-stemmed spreading shrub with white flowers and edible purple berries.
American Pokeberry (Phytolacca americana)
Poisonous weedy perennial with simple leaves on green to red stems. White flowere turn into purplish-black berries.
Wild Black Raspberry
(Rubus occidentalis)
Black raspberry is an arching shrub reaching a height of 3-7 feet with thorns. Black raspebberies resemble blackberries, but when ripe, the fruits fall away as a caplike unit, wheras blackberries stay attached to stem.
Red Mulberry
(Morus rubra)
The Missouri Red Mulberry is a medium-sized tree with toothed dark green leaves whicj may be entire or lobed on the same tree. Reddish-purple fruits ripen in early summer. A favorite of many wildlife, leaving purple stains in their droppings.
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