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Rubus cockburnians

gjautosgjautos Posts: 429
in Plants
Does anyone grow this? (White stemmed bramble) probably spelt the name a little wrong. Saw some in the garden centre today and really liked the stems, but it's described as fast growing which in my head means invasive. My garden isn't huge, around 120ft by 50ft so don't want it to be swamped, but I am happy to keep on top of it. 

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I grew it in a small front garden some years ago. One clump in the centre of an 8’x8’ bed, underplanted with spring bulbs. 

    The trick is, once it’s formed a clump, cut a third of the canes back to the ground early each spring … and NEVER let the tips of any of the canes to take root and grow. 

    If you can do that you can keep it contained and it is a gorgeous thing especially at this time of year. 

    We grew the form Rubus cockburnianus ‘Goldenvale’ which has brighter acidy-green leaves and looks more striking in the summer than the darker leaved form. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • gjautosgjautos Posts: 429
    Thanks @Dovefromabove, is it easy enough to dig out if I decided to at some point in the future? 
    Also, and excuse my ignorance here, why a third of the canes rather than all of them? 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    You can cut the whole thing hard back if you want to, but we’d have been left with nothing but stumps to look at in our front garden … so if we took the oldest third each year the whole plant was refreshed every three years. 

    If you stop the stem tips rooting as I described, it’s not too bad to dig out … I was a stubborn nearly 55-ish  woman with a dodgy knee when I did it. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • gjautosgjautos Posts: 429
    That makes sense! Thanks very much. 
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    It is invasive and it needs a large bed to display it at its best.
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    It is something that has to be kept a stern eye on. The moment you turn your back 😨 … but it can be done … we’ve done it. 

    It is a beautiful plant and had we a large garden (well, huge) I would certainly grow it again … in what I call ‘a wilderness’ garden. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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