Photo: Krzysztof Golik — CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Survives zone 7 through 9
Harvest calendar
Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.
A low, mat-forming groundcover raspberry — still widely sold under its older names Rubus calycinoides and R. pentalobus — whose small golden-to-salmon berries are edible but only mildly flavored, grown chiefly for its crinkled, felted foliage rather than for fruit.
- Hardiness
- Zone 7–9
- Habit
- Groundcover
- Edible part
- Fruit
- Ripens
- Summer–autumn
- Mature size
- Creeping evergreen groundcover 5–15 cm tall, spreading to 1 m and more
- Light
- Partial, shade-tolerant — prefers part shade in hot climates
- Soil pH
- 6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)
- Environment
- Montane
- Native range
- Taiwan, where it grows in montane forest and on open slopes at middle to high elevation; widely grown elsewhere as an ornamental groundcover under the name Rubus calycinoides.
- Status
- Cultivated
- Years to fruit
- 2–4 yrs
- Growth speed
- Moderate — canes extend roughly 30 cm per year, forming a full mat within a couple of seasons
- Spacing
- 120 cm (47 in) apart — about 1.4 m² (16 sq ft) per plant
- Leaf shape
- Rounded leaves with 3–5 broad, crinkled, ruffle-edged lobes, felted whitish beneath, often taking on rust and pink tones in cool weather
- Root system
- Shallow, spreading roots forming at stem nodes as trailing canes self-layer, rather than a single deep taproot
- Fruit description
- Small golden-to-salmon-colored aggregate berries, edible but only mildly flavored
- Propagation
- Rooted stem cuttings taken in early summer are standard; taller stems also self-layer where they touch the ground and can be cut free once rooted; seed can be extracted by mashing and fermenting overripe fruit
- Pollination
- Self-fertile
The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.
Growing guide
Fertilizing. Blend a small amount of balanced slow-release granular fertilizer into the soil at planting, then top-dress with an inch or two of compost each spring; otherwise needs little supplemental feeding once established in well-drained soil
How it spreads. Trailing, self-layering stems that root wherever they touch soil, spreading roughly 30–60 cm outward per year to form a dense, low mat
Growing tips. Evergreen groundcover reaching only about 15–30 cm tall; tolerant of hot, dry, rocky, or eroding sites; deer-resistant with no major pest problems, though it can develop orange rust, powdery mildew, anthracnose, grey mold, or verticillium wilt under stress; considered aggressive but manageable with an edger
Grow journal
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