Wild berries

In my neck of the woods in the Mid-Atlantic we have three common species of wild berries that can be good eating.  These are wild blackberry (several similar species, mine is Allegheny blackberry, (Rubus allegheniensis), black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), and Northern dewberry (R. flagellaris).

Wild blackberries bloom for a couple of weeks here in early May. 
They are very fragrant and quite attractive to bees.

Wild blackberries are the most noticeable of these three species of brambles.  The two most widespread species in the upland areas around here are Allegheny and Pennsylvania (R. pensilvanicus) blackberries.  The upright growing canes are typically 5-10 feet long.  Each individual cane only lives for 2 years.  These are continually replaced by new ones growing up from a rhizome 6-12" deep underground.

The thorns along the petioles are hooked and will grab onto any
clothing as you are pulling away.

The glandular hairs on the peduncle are indicative of Allegheny blackberry. 
Pennsylvania blackberry lacks glands in this area.

Blackberries ripen over several weeks around early July. 
Fully black colored berries that detach easily have the best flavor.

The square canes of Allegheny blackberry are armed straight spines.  The leaf veins and petioles have curved prickles.  These allow one to reach into the thicket relatively easily but much harder to withdraw your arm without getting snagged.  The 2-3 inch fragrant white flowers bloom in early May.  This is about the same time as multiflora rose.  Left on its own these canes will produce large quantities of small, seedy and very tart berries.  By cutting the cans back to about 6' tall and each of the side branches by half (down to as few as 4-6 buds) fruit size and sweetness is greatly improved.  These berries are still seedy, by the increase in fruit size makes it less noticeable.  I have also noticed that these cut canes provide habitat for small insects, although I don't know if these are beneficial or not.  The clusters of berries ripen over an extended period  from late June through July.  The best test for ripeness is if the berry comes off without pulling.  If you need to tug on the fruit, it's not ready. Berries that I don't eat right away are rinsed briefly, to remove ants, dried, then put into the freezer.  The berries do have a tendency to ferment if not picked.  These fermented berries do not taste as good as perfectly ripe fruit.

This overwintered cane shows evidence
of an insect resident.

Wild blackberry has smooth red stems in winter
armed with stiff red spines. Older branches
are square with indentions on each face.   

An additional benefit of these upright brambles is that they can act as a fence between tree saplings and browsing deer.  As an example, I have a white oak planted in the middle of a blackberry patch that has, so far, not been damaged by deer browse or rubbing.

Black raspberries, Rubus occidentalis, showed up here on their own about five years ago.  They became more obvious as I was reducing the amount of invasive wineberry (R. phoenicolasius) plants.  These are easily distinguished from wild black berries in that they have round canes, instead of square, with a white blush on them and the spines are straight rather than curved.  these have white flowers in mid-May with fruits ripening by mid-June.  The fruits are initially bright red, but turn nearly black when ripe.  They have have a unique sweet-tart taste, different from red raspberries.  The blue Jolly Rancher candies capture their flavor quite well.   Another way to tell blackberries and raspberries apart is how the fruit comes off the plant.  Raspberries leave a conical core, or rasp, on the plants while blackberries come off completely.  That's why picked raspberries seem to have a hollow core.  Where I live, black raspberry season is pretty short, maybe 10-14 days. Black raspberries are more shade tolerant than blackberries, but they are also more attractive to deer, particularly the foliage in early spring.  Where branch tips contact the soil new roots will form resulting in a thicket of arching canes.

These flowers, in mid-May are just opening and will
expand to about an inch across.  They are not as showy
as on the blackberry.

Black raspberries are borne in neat little clusters.  Normally the
center berry ripens first, followed by the surrounding fruits. To the right
in this image is a primocane, a first year stem with larger leaves.

In winter black raspberry has red canes with somewhat smaller thorns
 than a blackberry. It is distinguished by the white bloom on the older branches 

The earliest blooming of my wild berries is Northern dewberry, with flowers appearing by the end of April.  Unlike the other two berries dewberry stems are very lax and they tend to run along the ground, or over and through other plants.  The canes are typically 2-4 mm wide, often red in color and the spines are very narrow.  They don't twine, so they won't scale a tree.  Like the black raspberry, new plants can form where branch tips contact the soil.  Unlike the other two species, the number of berries in a cluster is smaller (2-5) and often single.  While wild blackberries can have 7 or more berries in a single cluster and black raspberry typically has 5 berries (3-7).  Like the other wild berries these are essentially black when ripe.  Based on the few that I have eaten, they are not as tart as blackberries, but are generally pleasant.  Since plants are  trailing on the ground or hidden in shrubs, I haven't harvested near as many of these as I have blackberries or black raspberries.  These berries end up being eaten mostly by the wildlife.

These flowering branches of Northern dewberry grow
up from the horizontally growing floricane.

These unripe berries grow in smaller bunches than the other brambles. 
Note the difference in leaf shape and texture between the dewberry
 (middle foreground) and poison ivy (upper right).  As of June 18th
these berries are about as far along as the blackberries, i.e. still green.

All these berries share a similar life cycle.  In the first year a cane sprouts from the ground and grows to some length, depending on species.  This cane, called the primocane only has leaves and does not flower or bear fruit.  The following season this cane matures and sends out more lateral branches that flower and bear fruit.  These are referred to as floricanes.  After fruiting, the cane dies, but additional canes are sent up from the perennial rhizome. As an aside, while flame weeding one spring, I found that the primocanes are sensitive to fire, but this did not have a long term effect on the life of the plant.

For reference here's an image of the invasive wineberry, Rubus phoenicolasius.  It's intermediate in size between our blackberries and black raspberries and it has a tendency to form dense thickets especially where the branch tips root on contact with soil.  

Wineberries turn bright red when ripe.  They can be distinguished from
 our native berries by the color of the fruit, the broadly ovate leaves
and the densely bristled stems.

Plans for 2023

 2022 was a particularly bad year  for me in the vegetable garden.  Conversely it was a great year for our local ground hog and rabbits.  The chicken wire fencing that I had sunk in around the perimeter had sufficiently rusted away to allow too many access points to control.  So may first garden job this year is to  rebuild the subsurface groundhog fence.  I've adopted a design I found on the Massachusetts Audubon site.  The key feature is that it extends the fencing horizontally outward from the fence.  This is supposed to make it more frustrating for critters to dig under the fence.  In preparing the area for the new fencing I needed to clear out the wild blackberries that are encroaching on the garden.  A future headache will be when blackberries start growing up through the horizontal welded wire.

Here's the garden last spring.  You can see the dense growth of
blackberries on the left that is encroaching from the outer fence. 
The inner fence need to be re-established at the base. 
I'm planning on transplanting a fig to the center.

Here's the plan for the buried welded wire fencing that should
keep the ground hog from burrowing under.  The loosely attached
chicken wire creates an unstable barrier that the ground hogs
find difficult to climb on.

While many folks do not like these somewhat weedy blackberries, with a little management they can produce some good quality fruit.  The secret is to prune back the long flowering branches to 4-8 buds in late winter/early spring.  This reduces the number of berries produced, but increases their size and sweetness.  In fact last year the blackberries were the best performing food plant in the garden.  In addition the tall blackberry canes around the garden help deter the deer from jumping over the double fence.  For a good resource for keeping deer out of a garden take a look at Deerproofing your Yard and Garden by Rhonda Hart.

Last year I started growing a 'Brown Turkey' fig outdoors in the ground.  It should do fine with the cold, it's cold hardy in USDA zones 5-9.  It does, however, get browsed by deer.  For this reason I will move one out to the center of the fenced in vegetable garden.  

Replacing Exotic Spireas

Over the past couple of years I have been accumulating native some native shrubs as replacements for exotic spireas and forsythia.  First was New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus).  This grows about 3' tall and wide in part to full sun and dryish, slightly acidic soils.  A major drawback is that deer and rabbits like to eat it. I will be using those in the pool enclosure where at least the deer are excluded.  Sizewise this is a good replacement for the spireas that I currently have.  

I have been growing meadowsweet, Spiraea alba for awhile.  This species is a vigorous grower with a rather rangy habit.  It is better suited as background plant, rather than a feature.  Last year I got a couple of shinyleaf meadowsweet, Spiraea corymbosa.  This Mid-Atlantic native has a habit more similar to that of its Asian relatives.  I will give this one a try in pool enclosure as well.

Another plant that I have been seeking for a long time is prairie willow (Salix humilis).  This Northeastern native willow is early spring blooming and only grows 4-6' tall.  It seems to be a good visual substitute for forsythia.  A couple have overwintered well in the ground.  If these continue to perform well I should be able to make more, since willows are particularly easy to propagate.    

this is the shinyleaf meadowsweet as it arrived last summer. 
If it has overwinter successfully, I will get it in the ground later this spring.

Woodland Management

Managing a landscape is as much about taking plants out as it is expanding and adding new plants.  In one area that is an early successional woodland (trees 15-20 years old) I have been aggressively killing off Tree of Heaven (Alianthus altissima).  As the larger ones are coming down the canopy is opening up and I'm seeing an increase in the undergrowth.  I need to manage this area by selective removing killing invasive species like multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) and garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata).  Late winter/early spring is a good time to hit these with herbicide, while the native species are dormant.  For the larger roses I've been doing cut stem treatments (apply 20% glyphosate to freshly cut stumps with foam paint brush).  Garlic mustard and dense masses of rose with leaves get the standard foliar spray.  

I'm trying to eliminate the Tree of Heaven that has dominated
this young woodland.  Most of the trunks laying on the ground
are ones that I have successfully treated using the Hack and
Squirt method.  In the center is one of the musclewoods
that grow well in this mostly shady area.

These trees were treated two years ago with a commercial
mixture of 2,4-D and dicamba.  The one in front is being
helped along by some currently unknown critter.

My goal here is to maintain this as a high quality woodland.  A couple of years ago I started adding some young 2 gallon oaks and red maples, but these did not survive in this minimally cared for location.  There is some debate about how effective humans are at forest regeneration and that letting trees grow from the natural seed bank may be more effective.  So now I am just adding protective cages around desirable seedlings especially oaks, maples, black cherry and musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana).  The most prolific native tree in these woods are box elders (Acer negundo).  These don't need any protection.

I am, however, adding some bare root evergreens to our windbreak to the north and west of our house.  The white pine trees here are aging out and I would like to get some replacements established before these have to come out.  This year I am adding some red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) and Canaan firs (Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis).  Of the fir trees I've tried to grow here in the neutral pH soil in Pleasant Valley, the Canaan fir seems to be the happiest. 

This Canaan fir is still in the wire cage I
put around it to protect from deer rubbing.

Shade Management

Another bit of shade management I did was to take out a rapidly growing tulip tree that was too close to the house and swimming pool and would soon cast too much shade on some smaller trees and shrubs.  I figured I could cut it myself this year while it was under 40' tall, any bigger and I would want professional help.  Many of the other tulip trees here are 80+ feet tall.  I really hated removing a native tree like this but in this location it would soon dominate the landscape.

The tulip tree I removed was only about 10 years old
(see inset) but was already nearly 40' tall.  It was
casting a lot of shade on a nearby persimmon. 
The box elder may be next.

This nearby tulip tree is probably in the 70-80' range
and growing.  A good choice here, but much to big to
be close to the house.

Invasives Management

And of course I'm am continuing a broad fight against the invasive plants.  In addition to early spraying for garlic mustard and multiflora rose, I am starting to go after the Japanese honeysuckle growing on the ground.  I have just a little more time to treat these with glyphosate before the spring ephemerals come out in force.  Also with the warm winter we've had it is almost time to apply a pre-emergent  herbicide to control the Japanese stiltgrass that will start sprouting in early May.  These pre-emergent treatments have been very effective at reducing the amount of stiltgrass growing in the lawn.  They also seem to have reduced that amount of hairy cress (Cardamine hirsuta) in the lawn.

Managing Invasives 2022

This is pretty typical of an 'invaded' tree with
Japanese honeysuckle and oriental bittersweet
 twining among its branches.

We’ve been on our central Maryland property for about 9 years now.  From day one we have been battling a slew of invasive species that were covering the ground and trees through the woodland landscape.  While we still have a ways to go I feel that we have made some good progress.  As I am getting ready to start another season managing the landscape I thought I would organize my plan around actions and timing, rather than looking at one species at a time. 

First 

My first activity for the year will be to treat any visible garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata, with a 2% glyphosate spray.  I'll do this sometime in the middle of March, when the temperatures  will be above 40°F with no rain for a couple of days. I started doing this 2 years ago and it seems to have helped me get the upper hand.  Prior to that I had  been only been pulling up plants in mid-spring as they grew tall prior to blooming. This link to my post on garlic mustard control options describes winter spraying in more detail and shows some of the desirable native species that may be visible at that time.  It also summarizes control options throughout the year.  The timing is critical as it is before the spring ephemerals, like spring beauties and Dutchman's breeches begin to sprout.  This lowers the chances of harming native species.   

Here you can see what a small garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata,
looks like in winter.  Indian mock strawberry, Potentilla indica,
is also green through the winter.  Unfortunately, that weed is not
 as sensitive to glyphosate as the garlic mustard. 
See this link for methods to manage it.

Second

Cutting woody invasives and vines and stump treating with 20% glyphosate can be done anytime of the year that the temperatures will be over 40°F for a few days in a row.  Winter is a good time to do this as it is easier to get to the base of many or these plants and there is less chance of getting the herbicide on desirable plants.  Particularly troublesome on my property are multiflora rose, Rosa multiflora, oriental bittersweet, Celastrus orbiculatus, Japanese honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica, and to a lesser extent Autumn olive, Eleagnus umbellata.  An excellent reference for managing invasives in the Mid-Atlantic region is Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas. 

In doing dormant season treatments it is critical to be able to distinguish friend and foe.  Below are some images of multiflora rose and other native species that it might be confused with.  

Here is multiflora rose in the winter.  Some distinguishing features are
its round olive green branches and its curved thorns.  The most
distinctive feature are the fringed stipules at the base of the petiole,
shown in the inset above.  It is the only species with this type of stipule.

 

Most native roses do not have green branches in
winter. Thorn shapes vary.  Here, swamp rose has
straight needle-like thorns.

Cat briar has bright green branches in winter
and it has straight almost pyramidal thorns.

Wild blackberry has smooth red stems in winter
armed with stiff red spines. Older branches
are square with indentions on each face.   

Black raspberry has red canes with somewhat smaller thorns. 
It is distinguished by the white bloom on the older branches 

You can read more about  dormant season treatment of multiflora rose at the link.  This technique is also effective on English ivy, Hedera helix.  Even if you don't use herbicides to treat the cut stumps, cutting vines climbing trees and over shrubs is helpful in controlling the spread of these invasives.  This is because many of these species are only able to bloom on vines that are elevated and/or exposed to plentiful sunlight.

Oriental bittersweet can twine against itself to get
stiffer and climb higher.  I cut these a while back
but left them long so I could easily find them. 
I'll cut them shorter and treat with glyphosate later.

This is typical of the damage that Japanese
 honeysuckle can do to a tree.  This vine can be
 recognized in winter in that it still has leaves and
 the older branches have shaggy bark.  

Third

Around the end of March I will use a brush cutter and mower to cut down last years growth of vines and undesired woody plants in the meadow and woodland edges.  The biggest problem in my meadow is wineberry, Rubus phoenicolasius. In addition to the wineberry there are the aforementioned multiflora rose, autumn olive, and oriental bittersweet.  

Spring mowing and pulling has been pretty effective at reducing wineberry in shady areas. This is a short-lived species and not deeply rooted so it is usually easy to pull up.  Cutting to the ground in spring seems to keep it from blooming, but it is still able to reproduce by it ability to put down roots wherever a branch touches the soil.   It is recommended that mowing/cutting should be done several times each season to be truly effective.  This is particularly true in sunnier areas where the cut plants can rebound quickly.  Oriental bittersweet can also resprout easily after being cut.

Wineberry is easily recognized by its dense
coating of stiff hairs mixed with red spines. 
While formidable in appearance these are
easily crushed with a gloved hand.

I will return about a month later and do a foliar spray on the wineberry sprouts. While burning is not considered an effective option of wineberry control I will test out targeted ‘cooking’ of individual crowns with my garden torch to see if that kills them in place.  (Standard burns do not selectively kill the wineberry, rather it clears out the competition and allows it to grow unhindered.

Fourth

At about the time that the forsythia is beginning to bloom is the time for me to get started on Japanese stiltgrass, Microstegium vinineum, control.  Stiltgrass has definitely been reduced in the lawn by use of a pre-emergent herbicide originally used for crabgrass control.  It should be applied when forsythia are beginning to bloom.  If you want to be more precise you can use a growing degree day tracker geared toward turf management. like GDD Tracker 4.0. The product I use contains only dithiopyr (Dimension™) and no added fertilizer.  Most of my lawn is fescue based and not that hungry for added nutrition.  This link lists some other preemergent products that have shown effectiveness against stiltgrass.  I wrote about my year long plan for controlling stiltgrass in this post.  In the woods pulling and weed whacking, particularly in late summer has reduced, but not eliminated the amount of stiltgrass.  As a result of thinning out the stiltgrass, I am seeing more native species filling in such as white avens and Virginia jumpseed.  I am also seeing an increase in perennial grasses (perhaps a Glyceria species) in areas where stiltgrass had dominated. 

In the sunny meadow stiltgrass has been harder to eliminate.  The preemergent has not been as effective on the rougher soil and I am hesitant to use it every year as it may negatively affect the growth of desirable plants from seed.  Summertime pulling and the addition of tough native grasses and forbs is helping to displace the stiltgrass.  Weed whacking close to the soil level in late summer as the stiltgrass is beginning to bloom is effective.  However this will also damage other desirable species.  The best method or methods to use depend on the situation in a given location. 

Rest of Year

Mid-spring is the time when I will be watch for the rapid growth of garlic mustard as it prepares to flower.  Pulling it out and leaving it in the sun to dry is my method of choice at that time.  

Late-July and August are the time for pulling out stiltgrass as it prepares to bloom.

So there appears to be an awful lot to do, but it is encouraging that I have seen some progress.  I realize that I am talking about using a lot of herbicide, but these treatments are targeted on the actual plants and done at a time that has little negative impact on native species.  In this battle I feel it is necessary to properly use all the tools that are available.  Another aspect of invasive species control, is limited resources, especially time.  It is better to do one area really well, then move on to the next, rather than doing a little bit everywhere.

I wish you all good luck as another growing season is upon us!

Getting More Fruits

Sassafras blooms in the first part of spring. 
This photo was taken on April 12th.

I have been planting more native trees and shrubs with the goal of increasing the amount of food available for birds.  Particularly fruits that are available in fall and winter.  In many cases these plants are dioecious. That is, an individual plant of the species is either male or female.  To get berries you need at least one male to fertilize the female flowers.  Sometimes getting male and female plants is easier when you are buying cultivars.  It is often documented somewhere (but not always) if a cultivar is male or female.  When buying seed-grown natives it is difficult to tell unless they happen to be in bloom when you are shopping.  If plants are not in bloom the recommended approach is to get 5 random plants so that there will be a good chance that you will get at least one of each.

This year I have spotted some firsts in my campaign to produce more native berries.  The first success that I noted was that my newly planted sassafras tree, Sassafras albidum, was a female [note structure of female flower].  There is a number of wild sassafras in the area, but the flowers are way up in the tree so I have not been able to distinguish their gender.  About a month after blooming I noted that there were a couple of berries forming.  They are green right now, but will turn dark blue when ripe.

Female flowers have 6 sterile stamen (staminodia) surrounding
a central pistil.  Male flowers have 9 stamen.

Here at the beginning of July you can see the green berries.  When ripe these berries
will turn dark blue and the pedicels will turn red.

The second species I spotted with fruit forming was persimmon, Diospyros virginiana.  There has been male tree on the property for some time.  I don’t know if it’s wild or was planted by the previous owners.  When I moved 7 years ago I planted a number of native persimmons all of unknown gender.  To improve the chances that I had at least one female I planted 6 new plants.  Last year one of them bloomed that proved to be a male.  This year two additional trees bloomed, both of which were female.  Shortly after the flower petals fell off I noticed that two of the female flowers had swollen ovaries.  Now I can hope that they survive long enough to ripen.  I may need to build a little fence around them to keep the deer away.  

Female flowers are usually solitary and have 8 sterile anthers around the pistil.
 On male trees flowers are clustered and are typically packed with 16 anthers.

About a month later this persimmon is developing. 
Green now it will turn orange when it ripens in the fall.

Another recently planted native tree that is now showing some berries is fringe tree, Chionanthus virginicus.  Fortunately these bloomed the second year after planting.  The first three of these I planted either appeared to be females or had not bloomed after two years.  The following year in early June I was in a native plant nursery when these were in bloom.   I was able to identify one specimen as a male (paddle-shaped anthers in throat of flower) and bring it home for the girls.  Now 4 years later I’ve spotted the first berries on the fringe trees.  Like with the sassafras these start out green then turn dark blue when ripe. 

This green berry on the fringe tree will turn dark blue when it ripens in early fall.

Two years ago I replaced some invasive leatherleaf mahonia, Mahonia bealii, with some inkberries, Ilex glabra.  I wasn’t able to get a male cultivar locally.  I found a suggestion on the internet that other hollies could fertilize inkberries.  To try this I planted an early blooming winterberry holly, Ilex verticillata ‘Jim Dandy’ nearby.  After planting my collection of inkberries including the ‘Nigra’ and ‘Shamrock’ cultivars I took a close look at the flowers.  While the flowers on ‘Nigra’ were exclusively female, ‘Shamrock’ appeared to have both male and female flowers.  Unfortunately this year I forgot to take a close look at these flowers to confirm my earlier observations.  I can say that this year I am seeing a lot of berries developing on the ‘Nigra’ plants, as well as on a single wild-type plant.  The ‘Shamrock’ cultivars bloomed this year but are lacking berries.  They had a lot of berries in their first year here.  

This female flower has a large central ovary surrounded by six sterile stamen. 
In male flowers these stamen will have yellow pollen on the anthers.

Also on the holly front, this year I added another winterberry holly, ‘Winterred.’  This is a later blooming female.  Its blooming cycle is perfectly timed with the male, ‘Southern Gentleman.’  While it was still in its pot I placed the ‘Winterred’ next to the ‘Southern Gentleman’ until the blooming period was nearly completed.  This should ensure some berries as long as it doesn’t get stressed too much from being planted out in late June.

Some other species that are not dioecious have mechanisms that encourage cross pollination. This ranges from clever flower construction that prevents self-pollination, to offset timing of pollen release and receptivity, to outright rejection of pollen with the same genetic material as the ovary.  To encourage fruit and seed production you should have at least two genetically distinct individuals within pollination range. 

This is what I’m thinking about my single American plum, Prunus americana.   Despite several years of impressive blooming I have not seen any fruits on this tree.  I don’t know how long these need to mature before they are ready to bear fruit.  To help with cross pollination I’ve planted several bare root American plums in the area but I think it will be a few more years before these begin to bloom.

Another fruit-bearing native that has appeared on my property is black raspberry.  I’d like to think that these have been encouraged by the removal/reduction of invasives like Japanese stiltgrass, wineberry and garlic mustard.

Black raspberry has round stems and first year canes are glaucous. 
Flowering occurs in mid-May

The black fruits ripen around the end of June and have a distinctive sweet flavor. 
These ripen a week or two before the wild blackberries, which are much tarter.

Surprise Plants

Living in a more rural area means that there is the possibility that there are still many native species lurking just out of sight.  Here are some of the plants that I have found growing spontaneously around our property.  Most of these have benefited from the removal of invasive species.  Reducing competition for light allows for germination from the seed bank and stronger growth overall.  Removing the cover, especially Japanese stiltgrass, also makes it easier to see what all is growing.  

The scalloped leaves along the stem made me think
that this was ground ivy, but the flower on top
quickly showed me to be wrong.

Among one of the first species of native annuals I tried to grow was clasping Venus looking glass, Triadonis perfoliata.  I had no luck in getting the seeds to germinate under controlled conditions (moist stratification, sterile soil, under lights, etc.)  This past spring, I came across some blooming plants as I was looking for some other seedlings in an area where I have been pulling out Japanese stiltgrass.  I can't say for sure that its emergence was due to reduction in stiltgrass, but it was much easier to find with less competition for space.  Since this species is an annual, continued success depends on it producing seed and getting that seed in contact with the soil.  Having the area less clogged with stiltgrass should help it along. 

When I first noticed it, I saw the clasping leaves on a long stem and thought it was ground ivy.  Before I could pull it I noticed the bright lavender flower at the end of the stem.  Closer examination shows that there were calyces in most of the upper leaf axils.  These had probably already bloomed out.  I will keep an eye on this area next spring to find this plant again. 

The round, glaucous stems on this bush indicated that this was some sort of raspberry. 
The berries were initially red, but all turned black over the course of a few days, so it some sort of black raspberry

When we moved here in 2012 many of the unmown areas that got any sun at all had the invasive wineberry, Rubus phoenicolasius, growing in them.  Fortunately this is not a strongly growing plant and it can be suppressed by cutting it back on a regular basis (at least once a year). It is also fairly easy to pull.  While the stems are covered with sharp bristles, these are not very stiff and will not penetrate my gardening gloves.  I was disappointed that I could not find any native raspberries (we have a ton of wild blackberries) growing in or around the woods.  In 2017 I started noticing a different berry plant showing up in various places, many of those that had been covered with wineberry.  The trifoliate leaflets and bluish blush on the rounded stems pointed toward some sort of raspberry.  (See this link to Illinois Wildflowers for way to tell raspberries and blackberry plants apart.)  It didn't matter which, as long as it wasn't wineberry (or more blackberry).  This spring these new plants flowered and produced fruit.  The berries were initially red, then turned black as they ripened.  While I have not nailed down the ID, it's a pretty good guess that these are native black raspberry, Rubus occidentalis.

I don't know if these are from an existing seed bank, or were brought in by wildlife.  Next year I will pay closer attention to the flowers to try and confirm the ID; although there are only three species of raspberries that are black, most are red.  If these came in via wildlife, they may be from some cultivated varieties rather than strictly wild.  On tasting the black berry I finally appreciate what the flavor 'black raspberry' really is like.  Jolly Ranchers have the taste right.   

Two years after I started removing the invasive species from this area,
these American germander have formed a hedge of their own.

American germander, Teucrium canadense, was one of the first native plants to emerge from what was before a dense hedge of wineberry, garlic mustard and Japanese stiltgrass.  Since this plant spreads by rhizomes and is a prolific reseeder it may be able to hold its own against the stiltgrass.  Peak bloom is in mid-summer at which time it is easily identified by the stamen arching out above the slipper-shaped, white to pale pink flower.

You can see the small white flower clusters coming
out of the stem at the bottom of this photo.

Sweet cicely, Osmorhiza claytonii, is a pretty common woodland edge native.  I usually find it along paths in partly to mostly shady wooded locations.  I usually notice it because of the deeply lobed bright green leaves and the hairs that cover the leaves and stems that catch the light.  As more invasives are removed from the understory small plants like this one are easier to spot.  Also as space opens up native like sweet cicely can fill in.

This large, about 5" long, trumpet-shaped flower is unlike most native species in our area. 
Is is actually a southwestern native but has naturalized as far north as New England.

Afterthe removal of a large pine tree I've been finding new plants cropping up all around it.  These were probably buried in the seed bank and were stirred up by the work crew or were just sitting there waiting for more light and moisture to encourage germination.  One plant that really surprised me was Sacred Datura or Angel's Trumpet, Datura wrightii.  Native to the western states, this plant is probably a garden escapee, possibly grown by the previous owner or flown in by birds. In colder climates this plant behaves as an annual though is is listed as cold hardy to USDA zone 4.

Though a little tattered Robin's Plantain seems to be
getting established in a shady portion of the lawn.

We have a number of fleabanes, Erigeron, growing here.  Most of the plants are either annual fleabane or Philadelphia fleabane, E. annuus or E. philadelphicus, respectively.  In a shady portion of the lawn (where grass doesn't grow well) I noticed a new white daisy-like flower.  It was growing up from something that looked like plantain.  While I'm not absolutely certain I'm pretty sure that this new find was Robin's Plantain, Erigeron pulchellus.  When it's in bloom I try to avoid mowing it so that it will have a chance to spread.  Since Robin's Plantain likes limy soils and has persistent green basal leaves it is a welcome addition to my natural lawn.