what the heck have we here....

[EggsForIHOP]

To be honest, we tried the gardenthing last year...and then there was a drought...Boo-Urns I say! So...I'm not real bright or great with my plants....

THEN WE MOVED! And I have SO MANY THINGS I am CLUELESS with when it comes to the plants around me...so...someone wiser and more capable PLEASE tell me...what is this?

We have purple-ish berries.....

On a tree with bark like this...that I THOUGHT had died in the drought and was preparing to cut down...it was one of the VERY LAST to get leaves just recently...so I ask...WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?

Also...is it poisonous to anyones knowledge to things like goats, horses, people, poultry....pigs even....should I go with my gut and loose this one? (We have 10 HEAVILY wooded acres....this one right by the house wouldn't be missed, I PROMISE!)

OH! and here is a clear shot of the leaves if that helps any...

 

[momofdrew]

looks like a mulberry to me

are some of the leaves shaped like a mitten???

My mulberry was always the last to leaf out

the berries are edible if you can get any after the birds get to them

 

[Carol Dee]

MULBERRY
A nuisance close to the house. Berries stain, Birds poop purple on EVERYTHING.
Some people like the berries, I find them a bit flavorless.

 

[The Mama Chicken]

Yup, mulberries. I know some people grow them as animal fodder, so they are safe for livestock (my goats love it!) I'm one of those people who loves mulberries, I will stand and eat them right off the tree. I just took cuttings from mine yesterday because I want lots more mulberry trees. We thought ours had died last year as well (here near Waco) but I was pleased to see it come back this spring.

 

[EggsForIHOP]

Mulberry eh? Pretty confident on this? It's actually a little ways off from the house...not FAR...but I gotta put shoes on to walk out there... like not right off of my porch...so mulberry...hmmm....may go grab one MAY...dunno....

 

[nachoqtpie]

Mulberries are one of those things that you either love of you hate. I absolutely love them and just like Mama Chicken, will stand out there next to my tiny lil bush that we planted last year and eat them as they come ripe. I can say with certainty that is a mulberry. Spent many many MANY days of my youth under our mulberry tree.

 

[EggsForIHOP]

Well...I was brave enough to squish one between my fingers, and lick the juice...not bad really, actually pretty good and not sick or dead yet....must be good

So...what does one do with mulberries? What can you make with them? Jelly? Wine? I dunno...any creative ideas? Because the birds aren't really after them yet...though if I let the chickens know where they are they may just disappear

 

[nachoqtpie]

My momma used to make Mulberry jam... I would make mulberry syrup for pancakes....

I imagine that you could make some mulberry wine! Mmmm... that might actually be really good... LOL

 

[897tgigvib]

Do not believe what everybody is saying that is! Thay are all fibbing!

That is the rare cross of BOYSENBERRY with a FIG!

You will notice that the leaves are shaped exactly half way between the two. Luckily the thorns are recessive and do not get expressed.

To do the cross, only the Yellow headed Crimson beaked Snipe is able to do the pollination required, and even then they need an unusual migration pattern caused when the weather is highly unusual. The odds of obtaining one of these so called Mulberries are infinitissimally small, about the same as the odds I spelled that word right!

To compound the incredible odds of this, one of the people on this forum actually has an even rarer white berried form of this so called mulberry.

Truth is, when Ponce De Leon was on his search for the fountain of youth, it was described as being fully surrounded by these trees making these berries. His crew chopped down untold numbers of wild coffee bean plants trying to find these trees. As everyone knows, his search was unsuccessful. On his way back out of the jungle, ole Ponce met up with the natives who told him about it, but never did figure out why they were laughing so hard. Joke was on him! These trees are so rare that there'd be no possible way for there to be a spring or fountain of any kind surrounded by a whole bunch of them!!!

To this day they are called MULBERRY because a person has to MULL it over and over again just to know what they are!

So now ya know, the rest of the story...

 

[so lucky]

Ya had me for a while there, Marshall!