Summer foliage and flowers
Two groups here, the first features golden, silver or variegated foliage, bringing attractive tones to the summer garden. These tend to be less vigorous than their green-leaved sisters and some have winter as well as summer appeal.
Rubus cockburnianus ‘Goldenvale’
A shorter and less vigorous form that follows its white winter stems with golden, prettily divided, ferny foliage in summer. A splendid allyear plant. H: 1.2m (4ft).
Flowers
The flowering types – there’s no getting away from it – are too vigorous for small gardens but make spectacular specimens where there’s space and I’ve also seen them grown in large containers.
Rubus ‘Benenden’
Each year in May, the elegant arching and spine-free branches are lined with large, pure white, golden-eyed flowers. Cut out the flowering shoots at the base when the petals have dropped. H: 2.7m (9ft).
R. thibetanus
Gently arching stems are covered in a slightly bluish-white bloom, but the foliage is greyish above all through summer and almost white underneath. H: 1.8m (6ft).
Rubus spectabilis ‘Olympic Double’
Vigorous, and spiny, but worth the space for its large, well-scented, vivid rosy-red, double flowers in April followed by yelloworange raspberry-like fruits that mature to red. H: 1.2m (4ft).