The Walworth Wallberry
(Rubus Urbanus)
Members of the Rubus genus are invasive species in many parts of the world. It is this vigour and resilience that makes them well suited for challenging urban conditions. The Walworth Wallberry is a backyard breeding programme aiming to produce a new highbred berry for growing against walls in urban locations. Selection is from parent plants that have thrived in urban conditions and responded well to wall training. Current trials involve back-crossing the Tayberry (Rubus fruticosus x R. idaeus) with the Loch Ness blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) to create a vigorous blackberry style fruiting cane for wall training, and Tayberry (Rubus fruticosus x R. idaeus) with the Loch Ness blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) to create an upright variety for urban hedging situations.
Images: flowers selected for manual pollination, petals and stamens are removed. Covered for 24hrs to prevent pollination by insects before manual cross-pollination with selected flowers.
Hybrid breeding programme, 2017 -
London,
