Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius) is a non-native bramble common along woodland edges.
Because its berries are tasty, I have in the past hesitated to remove it from our various wild garden areas. But this year, the hesitation is fading fast. One reason wineberry is getting cut down and pulled out is the cumulative impact of thorns on my sympathies. Repeated prickling sensations from running up against a wineberry or even a native blackberry gets old.
Another reason is that the dreamed of harvest of delicious wineberries is very nearly all intercepted by the birds, particularly catbirds. The early bird gets the wineberry. leaving us a disappointing display of "too late" and "too soon."
Another good reason to remove wineberry is that it will take over your garden. Here's a wall of wineberry along a road in Kingston, more than holding its own amidst other invasives like mugwort and multiflora rose.
Even wineberry will lose out to the mobbing behavior of the uber invasive porcelainberry vine. You can see wineberry's last gasp at the bottom of the photo.
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