The Daily Bucket is a place to catch your casual observations of the natural world and turn them into a valuable resource. Whether it's the first flowers of spring or that odd bug in your basement, don't be afraid to toss your thoughts into the bucket. Check here for a more complete description.
Seattle
May 28, 2011. Dewberry (Rubus ursinus) blossoms.
I call them Teaseberries. Their vines scramble all over the forest floor and into its edges, up and over the nurse logs and higher, looping through salal and willow thickets towards the light. In May their blossoms are everywhere, the sweet promise of fruit. By June almost every one of those blossoms has crumpled into brown dust. I consider myself lucky if I can collect a single handful of edible berries over the course of the few summer weeks when they come ripe.
Not this year.
July 13, 2011. Dewberries.
I found the first patch Wednesday on an open south facing slope with a view over the lake to Mount Rainier. Picked a handful in a half a minute and ate them all, very slowly, one by one, standing in the sunshine. There were too many more to count. Up in the forest there are at least as many more, and those are still green. This is a spectacular year for Dewberries.
###
Where are you? What's happening there?