The raspberry is
common throughout forested areas of Manitoba, but it is
more abundant and grows more vigorously in deciduous
forest regions of the southwestern 1/3 of the province.
It grows best along forest edges in rich, moist soils.
Raspberry plants are low
shrubs (to about 1 m in height) that spread aggressively
by underground rhizomes. New shoots, called canes,
develop from the spreading rhizomes each year. The new
shoots will not produce flowers or fruit in their first
year. It is the 2-year old canes that will flower and set
fruit, and these often die after bearing fruit. So the
lesson is: "Don't cut down all the raspberry canes, or
you'll have to wait 2 years to get any fruit."
It is usually mid-June
before raspberry bushes will be in flower. The
distinctively shaped and flavoured raspberries ripen by
late July and can be harvested until late August. The
bright red raspberry is an aggregate fruit made up of
tiny "drupelets". Raspberries are delicious raw or
cooked, and make excellent jams and jellies. The only
draw back to them is the abundant, tiny hard seeds that
can get stuck in you teeth and make jams "crunchy".
Besides humans, many birds and mammals will dine on wild
raspberries.
