Blackberries

I used to like blackberries.  

As a child I would pick and eat as many as a could.  When we moved back to Georgia over ten years ago, I was thrilled to see all the blackberry plants in the woods behind the house.  Also, there were many more plants across the road on the lots not yet cleared for building.  That spring I picked many and they were delicious.  I would pick until I saw a spider -- then that was enough for me that day.

Now I hate blackberries.  I cannot eat one without thinking of my on going battle with these insidious plants.  And yes, I know I direct a photo show named Nature Undisturbed -- but believe me -- when it comes to blackberry plants....I would love to disturb them -- and I do!  Yesterday I spent a few hours pulling them from the azalea bed, wrestling them from the butterfly bush, and shoving them into the woods.  They have the kind of thorn that really grabs you.  Normally on a day when the temperature is close to 90 I would be working in the yard in shorts.  Not yesterday -- I had on long pants and my rain boots.  Blackberries are evil.  They are insidious -- they fool you with the promise of delicious fruit, they woo you with beautiful blooms -- arcs of them.  But among those blooms are fruit are scary green lynx spiders and they will take over if you blink.

I think I actually heard a chipmunk crying yesterday as the plants full of buds were ripped from the yard.