The Workshop Attic

Slow motion version under the cut for those of you who like to see the individual frames.

I highly, highly recommend growing berries if your climate is suited to it. They are cheaper, tastier, and more nutritious than supermarket berries, and they are not that hard to grow. They are easier than most vegetables.

I thought I would give a review of the four berry varieties shown here:

• Blueberry 'Sunshine Blue': This is an ornamental blueberry. It stays small, has very pretty leaves and flowers, is mostly evergreen, and is self-fertile (most blueberry varieties are not). However, it is not as productive or as tasty as non-ornamental blueberry bushes, though it will still taste much better than anything you buy in the supermarket.

• White alpine strawberry: Alpine strawberries are fun to grow. They are very tidy, pretty plants and do not send runners everywhere. There are many different varieties, all of which make very small, cute fruit. They are famously very sweet and tasty. However, I think white alpine strawberries (which have a slight pineapple-like flavor) are not as tasty as the red ones. The big benefit of the white berries is that birds don't seem to notice them, so you don't have to use any bird deterrents to get lots of berries.

• Blackberry 'Chester': This is a thornless blackberry. I highly recommend only growing thornless or near-thornless caneberries (blackberries, raspberries, youngberries, loganberries, etc.) because they make picking fruit and garden maintenance so much easier. 'Chester' is an extremely vigorous and productive plant, and the fruit tastes better than both supermarket blackberries and wild blackberries.

For the first time in my life, one of my hellebores is blooming in summer:

For comparison, this is what its flower looks like in winter:

It's peak canola flowering season. The yellow is so intense that it looks fake, even when you're standing there and looking at it with your own eyes.