Dewberry

How to recognise it

Habit

Low, creeping to loosely scrambling shrub 20–50 cm high, with stems up to 2 m long that run along the ground and root at the tip.

Stem

Round and thin, with a bluish-grey bloom (a waxy layer you can rub off) and small, weak prickles.

Leaf

Always with three toothed, slightly hairy leaflets, the middle one the largest.

Flower

White, 2–2.5 cm, with five broad, slightly crumpled petals, in small clusters, from May to September.

Fruit

Blue-black berry with a grey bloom, made of few but large segments, which falls apart easily; ripe from July to October.

Confusion with

Bramble has angular stems with stout prickles, leaves usually with five leaflets and glossy black fruit with many small segments. Raspberry has red fruit and leaves that are white underneath.

Flowering: May–September · Pruning: February–March

Why grow it?

• Flowers for a long time, from May to September, with open flowers full of nectar and pollen for honeybees, wild bees, hoverflies and butterflies.
• The berries feed blackbirds, thrushes, whitethroats and small mammals.
• The low, prickly tangle gives shelter to hedgehogs, mice and nesting birds such as the whitethroat.
• Food plant for the caterpillars of several moths, such as the fox moth.
• A good ground cover for a bank or a wild corner where little else will grow.
• The fruit is edible: sharper than ordinary blackberries, tasty in jam or mixed with other fruit.

Dewberry: where does it grow best?

• In the wild on moist, nutrient-rich and often limy soil: riverbanks, dykes, floodplain woods, rough ground, verges and field edges, and also in the dunes.
• Sun to partial shade; in deep shade it hardly flowers.
• A good indicator of rich, moist soil.
• In the garden: on a bank, under a hedge, along a ditch or in a wild corner where it can spread.
• Allow 1–2 m² per plant: it spreads quickly with rooting stems.

Goes well with

• Elder: Grows on the same rich soil; flowers and berries for insects and birds.
• Common hawthorn: Together they make a dense, prickly hedge base where birds nest safely.
• Common comfrey: Flowers at the same time on moist, rich soil and attracts bumblebees.
• Meadowsweet: For a damp, tall-herb patch along a ditch.
• Common nettle: Together they form rough ground that gives butterflies and birds food and shelter.

Dewberry: when and how to plant it?

1. Buy a plant from a nursery specialising in native plants, or ask someone who already grows it for a rooted stem tip.
2. Plant in October–November or in March, in a spot where it may spread.
3. Space plants 1–1.5 m apart; after a year or two they join up.
4. Water when planting and during dry spells in the first spring.
5. You can also sow: sow fresh seed in a pot outdoors in autumn; it needs a cold spell and often only germinates after one or two years.
6. Never dig up plants from the wild.

Care

Watering

Only in dry spells in the first year; after that not needed.

Feeding

Not needed: on rich soil it already grows vigorously.

Spreading

Every year, pull up or dig out rooted stems that go too far, and mow a strip around the patch.

Gloves

Wear sturdy gloves: the prickles are small but numerous.

Shelter for wildlife

Leave part of the tangle undisturbed as shelter for birds and hedgehogs.

Tip: Let it cover a bank or a hard-to-reach corner: there its urge to spread becomes an asset and you hardly need to do anything.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: February–March.

When: Late February to March, before the new shoots start and before the nesting season.

How:

• Cut old, dead stems that have already fruited at the base.
• Shorten stems that are too long, so the patch does not spread further than you want.
• Every few years you can cut a section right down: it soon regrows.
• Do not prune from April to July, when birds may be nesting in it.

Caution: Do not prune or cut during the nesting season: whitethroats and other birds like to nest low in brambles.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Tip layering

In August–September, lay the tip of a stem on the ground and pin it down; in spring, sever it and replant.

Seed

Sow fresh seed from ripe berries outdoors in autumn; it needs frost and germinates slowly.

Division

In autumn or early spring, separate a rooted stem with a piece of root.

Dewberry: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −25 °C.

• In mild winters the leaves partly stay on the plant; in hard winters they fall.
• The stems turn reddish to bluish grey and add some colour in winter.
• The prickly tangle shelters birds, mice and insects.
• Fully hardy.

Diseases and pests

• Spreading: Stems root wherever they touch the ground. Keep the edges in check every year.
• Rust: Orange or black pustules on the underside of the leaves. Harmless; cut out affected stems in winter.
• Few fruits: Like other brambles, it flowers mainly on second-year stems: cut all the stems in spring and you lose that year’s flowers. Only cut old, dead stems.
• Prickles: The small, sharp prickles catch on clothes and skin. Do not plant it next to a path or play area.

Through the year

• February: Cut out old, dead stems.
• March: Last pruning. Planting.
• May: Flowering begins: bees and hoverflies.
• June: Full flower. No pruning: birds are nesting.
• July: Flowering and the first ripe berries.
• August: Pick berries. Layer stem tips.
• September: Last flowers and fruit.
• October: Plant or transplant. Sow seed.
• November: Planting. Leave the tangle for wildlife.

Did you know?

• The name refers to the grey bloom on the fruit, which looks like dew. The Latin species name caesius also means bluish grey.
• A blackberry is not a true berry but a cluster of small stone fruits. In dewberry there are only a few, which makes the fruit look somewhat incomplete.
• Dewberry hybridises easily with other brambles, and these in-between forms make identifying brambles a real challenge, even for experts.