Raspberries grow on bushes typically in cooler climates but there are many varieties that withstand warmer environments. Raspberry bushes tend to grow fairly high, reaching four to six feet maximum. They usually produce fruit during the summer months.
In this article, you will learn how to identify a raspberry bush, what it looks like when it blooms, and how to tell it apart from other look-alike bushes.
How Do You Tell If a Bush Is a Raspberry Bush?
There are a number of indicators to suggest that a bush may be a raspberry bush. Raspberry bushes grow as a cluster of thin, sturdy canes. Canes that are light green in color indicate new growth while the presence of brown canes indicates growth from the previous year. The stems may or may not have thorns depending upon the variant.
Leaves of the raspberry bush are light green in color and shaped like a spade with toothed edges. The underside of raspberry bush leaves should have a silverish tint to them. In the spring, raspberry bushes will begin to develop berries that grow in small bunches.
In the summertime, the bush will bear ripe raspberry fruit that will most likely be red or black in color but may also be a rarer variant of purple or yellow raspberry.
What Does a Raspberry Bush Look Like When It Blooms?
Raspberry bushes will grow up to six feet tall in height and at the peak of the growing season will appear light green in color with clusters of new leaf growth. Raspberry bushes have compound leaf formations with at least three leaflets to a cluster.
In late spring or early summer, raspberry bushes will begin to bloom. Not only will fruit begin to appear but white or pink flowers will blossom on the bush. The flowers are small, measuring less than half an inch in diameter with five petals, and usually appear in clusters of up to ten blooms.
What Other Bushes Look Like Raspberry Bushes?
Wild blackberry bushes look extremely similar to raspberry bushes and the two are often mistakenly identified. Both plants are part of the same genus but represent different species. They both grow as tall cane bushes with light green toothed leaves.
The major differences between the two can be distinguished from the coloring of the underside of the leaves. Raspberry leaves have a silverish appearance while blackberries lack this coloration. Blackberry leaf compounds also tend to grow in clusters of five while raspberries grow in clusters of three.
Identification of the bush should not be made based on fruit color as there are certain varieties of raspberry that are black and the difference between blackberry and black raspberry fruit can be indistinguishable.
Conclusion
Raspberries are a delightful summer treat that grow on bushes composed of cane and toothed leaf clusters. That can be easily identified from their distinctive silverish leaf undersides, iconic berries, and delicate flower clusters. Although they look similar to blackberry bushes, there are noticeable differences to help confirm correct identification.
