From left, Thomas Edison, Luther Burbank and Henry Ford. Two are still world-famous; the guy in the middle brought us many crop experiments, including the Himalayan blackberry that’s now inescapable in Seattle.
New York Botanical Garden/LuEsther T. Mertz Library/Biodiversity Heritage Library
In Seattle, blackberries are as much a part of the view as the Puget Sound — the twisting brambles so ubiquitous, they’re as likely to vex gardeners as delight them.
The tale behind the city’s blackberries turns out to be equally tangled. It starts at the end of the 19th century, at a time when American life was changing dramatically.
People were moving from rural areas to towns and cities, including Seattle. Industrialization was creating a new middle class.
Down the coast in Santa Rosa, Calif., an eccentric guy named Luther Burbank was hard at work on his experimental farm. Burbank didn’t have any formal training, but he was working feverishly t…
From left, Thomas Edison, Luther Burbank and Henry Ford. Two are still world-famous; the guy in the middle brought us many crop experiments, including the Himalayan blackberry that’s now inescapable in Seattle.
New York Botanical Garden/LuEsther T. Mertz Library/Biodiversity Heritage Library
In Seattle, blackberries are as much a part of the view as the Puget Sound — the twisting brambles so ubiquitous, they’re as likely to vex gardeners as delight them.
The tale behind the city’s blackberries turns out to be equally tangled. It starts at the end of the 19th century, at a time when American life was changing dramatically.
People were moving from rural areas to towns and cities, including Seattle. Industrialization was creating a new middle class.
Down the coast in Santa Rosa, Calif., an eccentric guy named Luther Burbank was hard at work on his experimental farm. Burbank didn’t have any formal training, but he was working feverishly t…
