Purple Flowering Raspberry

Behold my purple flowering raspberry!  Just in this one photo we have new buds, a soon to open bud, a breathtakingly gorgeous flower and a berry-in-waiting.  Actually I'm the one who is waiting.

Let's take a really close look at that berry.  The male parts  form a light brown circle and sort of look like pieces of barley on little stems.  The female part, the berry, is light green.  Clearly pollination has taken place.  Now I wait for the berry to ripen.  I am expecting all of that brown stuff to fall off. Compare this to the center of the beautiful purple flower and you can see progress is being made!

Here is an average sized leaf on my Rubus odoratus.  It is big enough to substitute for a fig leaf if you know what I mean.  I know it looks a little like a maple leaf, but it is not.  

It was Mother's Day 2017 when I was plant shopping with Amy  at the Catskill Native Nursery.  I was totally drawn to a single purple flowering raspberry in a  large pot.  It was just slightly shorter than me.  I put in on our wagon of plants to purchase.   I finally realized that there was no way I could fit the plant into Amy's car.  There was a tear in my eye when I told them that the plant would have to stay.  It made me so happy when the man said "Oh, I have smaller  purple flowering raspberry plants would you like one of those?"  Obviously my answer was "Yes".  Before he could put the plant back in stock he and the next woman in line were having exactly the same conversation.  They say you can't buy happiness, but that day I did.

That summer the plant did well. but we soon learned that if we were to ever see flowers on the plant it would have to live in a cage.  Like me, the deer found this plant irresistible.  Ed made a nice tall  cage and last summer the plant made a fabulous comeback.  It was as tall as me and even wider! However it did not flower.  Again I had to wait.  This spring a new larger, taller cage was required.  It worked great and after just a little over two years you can see the results.  They say these berries are dry but that's fine.  My mouth is watering already!