What could I put in a #PNW hedge to replace Himalayan blackberries from the point of view of little birds? I’ll plant sunflowers and scarlet runners for a while, and am aiming for huckleberry and native honeysuckle in the longer term. Left the dead canes in the hedge high up for a few more years of physical protection.
“Berry birds like that isn’t invasive” might be impossible, hm.
ETA constraints: safe for humans to walk past, long term maintenance is one winter prune and mow around
@clew No matter what you do, if you've got Himalayan blackberries in the hedge already, it's going to take years of control to eliminate it for good.
But there's a native blackberry you could plant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus_ursinus
The native won’t climb out of hurting-passing-humans range — I should put that in as one of the vital goals.
(They team up. Himalayan drops razors from above, while you’re trying to untangle from that you catch a boot in a native variety, then you face plant into both. It’s possible to hurt yourself pretty badly.)
clew
Megan Lynch (she/her)