The fruiting mulberry tree is one of my all-time favorite fruit trees. Much prized for its size and the shade it provides, many gardeners enjoy its juicy, luscious fruit. There are red, white, and black mulberries. My favorite is black.

You can view an excellent photo of a branch of ripening black mulberries here.

The other thing I enjoy about mulberry trees is that they have leaves of many shapes. It’s like having a tree with multiple personalities. You never know what you’re going to see on new branches, the solid, heart-shaped leaf, serrated edges, or the fancier shaped leaves that look like three-piece cutouts. The leaf photo below shows some of the varying shapes of our black mulberry’s leaves.

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The black mulberry tree’s leaves are shiny and birds thoroughly enjoy both the leaves and the berries. Black mulberries are, in my opinion, the tastiest of the three varieties. They stain your fingers, your clothes, and the ground purple. Still, they are my favorite.

To protect the berries, we cover our mulberry tree with netting to keep the birds away. This year’s harvest arrived early, beginning to ripen in late May instead of June. Fortunately, our tree was so laden with fruit, we enjoyed mulberries well into early July, which is unheard of.

I took a walk through our yard yesterday morning. As the leaves on the rest of the trees in our backyard slowly begin to yellow and fall, our mulberry tree’s leaves are still going strong, making me feel like summer may just last a while longer.

To Your Gardening Abundance!

Cara