I was amazed at the first mulberry tree I saw here. I really did actually think mulberries had to come in the form of a bush because of the children's song, of course. But my neighbor here has a mulberry tree and hers was the first I had ever seen. It is a rather huge tree that sits beside the dirt road in her front yard. She is quite proud of it though it is too big for anyone to ever reach the berries on it.
About a year after we moved in here I realized we had our own mulberry "bushes". One cropped up in the front yard. I cut it down. It came back. I cut it again. It came back. This is where I learned how tough the mulberry trees are. I must have cut that tree (and it was quite small) back 10 times and I mean right down to the ground and it came back every time. Then I started school and work and it got ahead of me. They grow incredibly fast! We now have a rather large mulberry tree, competing with the dogwood tree and one other for space in the smaller part of the front yard. (I have not identified that other tree but it grew even faster than the mulberry). The three of them provide some nice shade for the swing that is out there.
There are several different kinds of mulberries (morus) trees but the kinds we have here are either the native red mulberry (morus rubra) or the white mulberry (morus alba) which is an Asian species brought here to feed silk worms industry which never, apparently, materialized. The red mulberry is in danger because of hybridization with the white mulberry. I have no idea exactly which species we have here.
The berries are supposed to appear in small clusters of 2 or 3 but ours are almost always single berries and not a whole lot of them. I bet our tree doesn't have more than 25 or 30 berries on it- if that. They start out a greenish white and then turn redder to a dark purple just like a blackberry does. They taste quite like a blackberry as well but they do have a stronger flavor which is hard to describe.
The leaves on a mulberry tree are rather strange. They start out lobed and then as the branch gets bigger they are no longer lobed and the sides are just tear drop like (well not really but I don't know how to describe it--leaf shaped, lol).
Here is a picture I took of the lobed leaves on some of the shorter branches but if you look to the bottom you can see how some of the other leaves aren't lobed.
I am not done with my fight against mulberries however. Mulberry trees grow from seed and a seed has made its way to the back yard. If you look at this picture of the rose bush that I posted the other day you can see a few lobed leaves to the right. This is right in the middle of the back yard.
Mulberries are such weeds. The trees we have around here are very prolific. They are just covered in berries. And the lowest are usually pickable. There is one right over the bus stop near our house. Sometimes I reach up and eat them when they are ripe. The bus stop is such a bad place for one. They drop their fruit everywhere and they rot on the sidewalk. So smelly and gross. Now if someone came and picked them, it wouldn't be so bad. Ours don't taste like yours though. I would say ours (well not mine personally but the ones in the area that grow wild) is like a mild plum. It is really pretty boring for a fruit. A little tasteless. Now one that tasted like a blackberry might be nice.
ReplyDeleteCareful, I think there is a mulberry weed you can not eat and the mulberry bush you can eat.
DeleteThe mulberry bushes around here in northern Ohio are bushes, not trees.
As they grew, someone knew when and how to properly trim them, they've never grown over 8 to 10 feet high in the 60 years I've been eating the berries. They don't appear to bolt either.
I've informed my Sweet Wife any plant we replace in our yard will be replanted with any edible plants or trees I can find. I'd love to have a Mulberry tree.
ReplyDeleteI am sure I could send you some seeds if I can get one of the berries when it is ripe before the birds do.
DeleteHi Becky,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting a mulberry fruit, I have never seen one.
When I lived in CA, the "fruitless" mulberry was really popular as a landscaping tree in suburbia. It's nice to see what a "fruitful" one looks like :)
Carolyn
We have a few mulberry trees and look forward to the berries each year. So do all the birds and animals, even the dogs. I get a kick out of the purple chicken poo.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be a mulberry tree just down the road from us and the branches overhung the footpath but try as I might I could never reach any of the fruit. They pulled it out last year so now I don't even get to try - boo hoo.
ReplyDeleteIf only the other trees / bushes (the ones you want to keep) were so resilient! I can see why the Mulberry tree is treated like a weed in some places. I suppose the only thing to do is dig the trees up rather than cut them back. They must have very deep roots though.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that would work Mark but it is nearly impossible to dig through the red clay we have here. It usually involves a hose and wetting the ground, digging out an inch, wetting again etc. That is how I get trees planted in the yard :)
DeleteGrowing up we had these, and they were more weed than fruit tree, messy but bland fruit, purple bird droppings and so many volunteers all combined to make it undesirable
ReplyDeleteI was hoping that someone had cultivated one as a rounded bush to look good while attracting the birds I want to see in the garden. Bummer!
ReplyDeleteIf you want to keep the Mulberry tree smaller and round it more like a bush, put it in a large pot where its roots will be confined. You can keep it smaller and shape it to what you want. However, should you put it into the ground, it will grow into a large tree quickly. Also, there is a RED Mulberry bush that I am presently growing that is definitely a bush, a large bush, not a tree. This is NOT a purple mulberry tree where the fruit starts out white, turns red and progresses to purple when ripe. This IS a true red berried mulberry that starts out pale pink and turns red. It is sweet just like the other berries. To enjoy any Mulberry, you must first let it ripen. There is a stage that many people pick them before they are ripe and there is little to no sweetness to the berry. Once the berry has become glossy and the tiny individual seeds on the berry are plumped, it is usually sweet enough to pick. If eaten before this stage, you miss the actual wonderful sweetness of this tiny fruit.
DeleteIn the 70's when my children were 9 and 6 years old in California, we had a Mulberry seed grow into the most wonderful HUGE tree in our backyard. It must have been 35 - 40 feet high and yes, it had the purple Mulberries! Once we discovered that you can eat them, I'd find both my kids climbed up that tree, grabbing mulberries and stuffing them in their mouths. By the time they were done, they were purple from head to toe. By the way, mulberry's purple stains are difficult to remove from clothing and some times little faces! :) But that Mulberry Tree is a fond memory in my children's lives...and in mine! It was a gift from God because we never planted it there and there were no mulberry trees anywhere in our neighborhood. After my kids left the "nest", I discovered a "White" Mulberry Tree which I ordered online. It grew to be about 35 feet tall and very wide with the most delicious berries I have ever eaten...AND THEY DIDN'T STAIN ANYONE'S HANDS OR CLOTHING! We enjoyed that tree for many years and grew some of its seedlings in pots to take with us when we left that home. Today, in Arizona, two of its seedlings are small trees in large pots that we plan to take with us to Northern Cali and re-plant them back into the ground to grow again into a majestic tree. Yes, the fruit is just that good and worth every effort to cultivate!
ReplyDeleteGo to the country farm markets out in Iowa, I found mulberry wine and jam for sale from local farmers while passing through the area.
ReplyDelete