Vanquishing the blackberry

We cut down the blackberry canes on Friday. Even those with flowers.

My friend who helped me grieved over the lost potential of berries. I fear I diminished myself in his eyes by viewing this food source as a marauding Visigoth. Nonetheless, he energetically attacked with loppers and pruners, dismembering and purging massive tangles, some 15 feet or more long. We extricated twisted canes from fragrant mock orange, Western hazelnut, viburnum, rhododendron and lilac. Resisting, thin branch ends whipped around, grabbing us in thorny holds.

When the yard waste can was stuffed to capacity, we piled the brambles on the lawn. The curving canes that once held captive the western border of the garden are today a spiny shipwreck, sharp brambles still guarding a non-existent cargo.

Caution: active thorns!