5 ms·

Likewise with some species of blackberries, but at least they have the benefit of providing a tasty snack before I go after them with tools and a fury.

• grawprog 5y ago
  Unfortunately, they compete with native berries like salmon berries on the west coast and other shrubs in the same habitat. Unlike salmon berries and native shrubs though, despite being a good food source, they are poor habitat for birds and small mammals that would otherwise occupy that canopy level and habitat. The native blackberries are small trailing vines that grow below salmonberries, thimbleberries, huckleberries, spirea, dogwoods, elder berries, mountain ash, salal, cottonwoods, alders and more. They grow amongst foamlflowers and other small herbaceous plants. All those plants provide ideal habitat and forage for a huge variety of animal species. Himalayan and evergreen blackberries are large woody shrubs that overtake everything else and grow into a thick tangled impenetrable mass of thorns not ideal for many native animal species. An area that should have between 6 to a dozen species of plants will instead have 1 because of the way invasive blackberries grow.
  • Arrath 5y ago
    It really is surprising how accurate 'thick tangled impenetrable mass of thorns' is, without being an exaggeration at all. As a teenager I helped my dad, over the course of an entire summer, reclaim over 3 acres from a monoculture expanse of blackberries. They were just a 6-8ft tall sea of thorns and brambles.