Berry delicious picking
Updated: Sep 8
Wild berries are common on all of the Southern Gulf Islands. Many are edible . . . some aren’t. Knowing which ones to pick—when, where, and how—will make your visit to our beautiful islands an even tastier experience. Of the more than three dozen island plants (by my count) that produce berries in these parts, most are safe to eat straight from the vine or stem. Personal preference will play a role in who picks what a second time and in whether the fruit is eaten raw again or used in baking or preserves. Berry ripening begins as early as March, and continues well into the fall.
Table of Contents
Photographs, videos, audio, and text Copyright © 2026 Richard Philpot/SGIOUTSIDE.ca.
Salal Berries
PICTURED ABOVE: My Six (6) Favourite Safe-to-Eat Wild Berries in the SGI.
These tasty delights range from sweet to tart. They offer a smorgasbord of colours for gobbling.
WILD EDIBLE BERRIES of the SGI
The Southern Gulf Islands’ idyllic growing weather results in plentiful wild edible berries from spring through fall. These tasty delights range from sweet to tart, presenting in a smorgasbord of colours—brilliant red, hot pink, Raven black, and deep purple. Most of our wild, fit-for-human-consumption berries are rich in other good stuff: vitamin C, several nutrients, fibre, and antioxidants. Some are better eaten on location (because they don’t pack or travel well); others will easily make it to your campsite or home to be gobbled up by the hand, on top of your cereal or a salad, or used in a mixed-berry crisp or pie. Still others will transform them into jam, jelly, juice, or wine.
Finding, Identifying, and Consuming wild berries
Finding Wild Edible Berries. Some, like the three varieties of blackberries, seem to be almost everywhere you look. But others, for instance black raspberries and thimbleberries, take a keener eye. Knowing a berry’s habitat and season, its colour and greenery, gives you a fighting chance to discover a stash of juicy fruit.
Identifyind Wild Edible Berries. Closely examine a berry-bearing shrub or tree, cross-referencing it with two credible resources you’re carrying with you—e.g., Collin Varner’s excellent book Edible and Medicinal Flora of the West Coast/Expanded Edition and a smartphone app like Seek by iNaturalist—to validate your wild berry identification. Identifying the small fruit with certainty should involve examining the entire plant (i.e., confirming the branches/stem/trunk bark, leaves, and flowers match the description in your printed and online sources). If you are at all uncertain, walk away.
Seek by iNaturalist is a powerful tool in IDing wild edible berries. Download the Seek app for Android or iOS, open it on your smartphone, and point your cell’s camera lens at a wild berry and plant parts. The app promptly tells you what you’re looking at. It’s amazing technology and a valuable learning instrument. However, in addition, I still take a close-up photograph of the berry and parts with my phone and compare them with one of my resource books (authored by experienced field botanists). iNaturalist is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization; therefore, some wild plant names differ from ours for the same plant.
Disclaimer: Consuming Wild Food (including Wild Berries)
Southern Gulf Islands explorers must exercise prudence when eating anything found in the wild. SGI Outside and Richard Philpot are not responsible for the misidentification of wild berries described or pictured on this website. SGI Outside/Richard Philpot advises against eating wild berries or other wild plants without first obtaining cross-confirmation from multiple credible sources that the plant is suitable for consumption. It is paramount that you have certainty in your plant species identification—confidently distinguishing between species that are safe to eat or toxic/deadly poisonous—before sampling even a small portion of a wild plant’s edible part(s), and that you learn how and when the plant should be prepared for ingestion.
SGI Outside/Richard Philpot has not tested any wild plants for medicinal use. British Columbia First Nations Uses cited in SGI Outside were sourced from respected publications rather than through consultation with First Nations practitioners.
Berry Picking Tips
Blackberries. Wear an old long-sleeved shirt and pants (that you don’t mind being torn) for protection from the inevitable scratches and cuts of the thorny brambles. The outer edges of a patch often are picked over, leaving the remaining clusters of large, tempting berries out of reach. Locals pull the prickly branches towards them using a straightened wire coat hanger with the hook left on the end. Some hang a container around their neck, leaving both hands free to pick, often eating as many berries as they collect.
Salal. Bend the dark-coloured berry backwards toward the stem and gently break the fruit off. It takes a little practice. If you pull on the berry, it’s almost sure to burst, staining your fingers and clothes with dark purple juice.
Thorn-armed, ripe and ripening Armenian blackberries in Princess Bay, Portland Island.
Our Sweetest Temptation
They arrived unnoticed, apparently harmless, quietly staking their ground. For years, their territorial takeover went unnoticed. But like the stealthy actions of invaders, they slowly and silently changed the Southern Gulf Islands’ landscape.
For 140 years, they’ve worn the perfect disguise. Sweetness. The Armenian blackberry (formerly known as Himalayan blackberry) is the perfect antagonist. This foreign species coldly goes about its business of crowding out native island plants and choking river estuaries throughout southern British Columbia, cloaking its threat in good taste. Most commonly found growing next to ditches along our island roads, these jumbled, impenetrable thickets outmuscle and kill the native Salmonberry, Nootka rose, Black Twinberry—any plant that gets in its path.
“Oh, they taste good, though.”
Typically, Armenian Blackberries start blooming in mid-June and ripen on the cane between late July and September. In some years, this all starts weeks earlier. Timing is everything; an overripe blackberry breaks apart at the touch.
But don’t forget that this introduced plant species to North America in 1885 is an intruder, squeezing out and killing indigenous plants. They’re also tough. Even removing them completely, roots and all, will not necessarily stop them from returning. Just a bit of root left behind or one of their thousands of seeds can send up new shoots for as long as four years. A single cane can grow twelve metres (approximately 40 feet) in a single growing season. Do you think Burbank had the slightest inkling of the relentless invader he was bringing us?
Wild Armenian Blackberries threaten the already endangered Garry Oak ecosystem in the Southern Gulf Islands. What do we do about non-native plants like this that are forever changing our local ecosystem? The answer is removal. Check with one of the Southern Gulf Islands’ conservation societies about how you can do your part, and visit the Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team website at www.goert.ca.
The August 2020 story in The Tyee: How Blackberries Took Over. It’s a Juicy Story by Christopher Cheung, is worth a read.
Ready-to-eat and some not-yet-ripe Saskatoon Berries (070825).
My Six (6) Favourite SGI Safe-to-Eat Wild Berries
The Flowering and Fruit setting times are averages and will vary by location, altitude, and year. My six (6) favourites list is displayed in order of the first to offer ripened fruit. I pick and eat all of these fresh as I walk and hike, collecting Salal, Saskatoon, and the three blackberry varieties for cereal, salad, ice cream, and yogurt toppings, and as the star ingredient with local apples, pears, and plums in crumbles, tarts, and pies. Ten to twenty pounds of berries, including North Pender Island u-pick blueberries, are frozen and enjoyed through winter and early spring. Friends supply us with jams and jellies.
Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) / Rose Family
Taste: Tasty, but often quite soft.
Season: Flowers—March-June; Fruit ripe—mid-June to mid-July.
Habitat/Local Sites: Damp and shaded forest.
Plant Description: Our tallest native berry bush, average 2-3 metres (approx. 6.5-10 feet) in height, but can grow to 4 metres (approx. 13 feet); beautiful hot-pink, bell-shaped flowers; three green leaflets; yellow, orange, or red berries resemble salmon eggs (hence its common name).
Notes: 1) In June, the flowers and ripened berries are present on the bush at the same time. 2) The berry’s high water content makes it impractical to store them, so most pickers eat them immediately.
Saskatoon Berry (Amelanchier alnifolia) / Rose Family
Other Names: Service Berry.
Taste: Like a blueberry crossed with a cherry (some say with a subtle nutty aftertaste).
Season: Flowers—starting in May; Fruit ripe—late June or early July.
Habitat/Local Sites: Rocky shorelines at low- to mid-elevations and open forests.
Plant Description: Varies in height from 1-7 metres (approx. 3-23 feet); its flower’s long, clustered petals are a striking sight; oval-shaped green leaves are deciduous; young reddish berries ripen to purple-blue, up to 1 cm (approx. 0.4”) across.
Notes: The hard, straight wood was a favourite for making arrows.
Trailing Blackberry (Rubus ursinus) / Rose Family
Other Names: Dewberry.
Taste: Sweet and scrumptious berries, with leaves that can be steeped as a tea.
Season: Flowers—starting as early as April end; Fruit ripe—mid-July (first blackberries to ripen).
Habitat/Local Sites: Primarily at the forest edges; can endure more shade than Armenian and Cutleaf species; common in the SGI.
Plant Description: Round cane/stem up to 5 metres (approx. 16 feet) across, with curved thorns/prickles (nowhere near as lethal as Armenian thorns); large white or pink flower; full-grown shrub has three oval leaflets with pointed tips and deeply serrated edges; small berries up to one cm long (approx. 1/2 in), tinier than introduced blackberry species.
Notes: 1) Our only native blackberry. 2) Pacific Northwest Indigenous Peoples have harvested this nutrition-filled fruit for thousands of years. 3) A Coast Salish myth about the origin of the Trailing Blackberry: A woman found refuge from her jealous husband up a tree, letting blood during her scramble to safety; the falling red liquid became blackberries.
Use proper technique when picking Salal berries to avoid stained fingers and clothes.
Salal (Gaultheria shallon) / Heather Family
Other Names: Laughing Berries, Oregon Wintergreen.
Taste: Black-purple berries are my favourite; they taste like a blueberry crossed with a Concord grape; many pickers disregard them.
Season: Flowers—beginning of May; Fruit ripe—beginning of August (flowers/berries peak for several weeks).
Habitat/Local Sites: Abundant; Salal is the most common understorey shrub in our region’s coniferous forests; low- to mid-elevation.
Plant Description: Mostly waist to should height, but can grow to 3 metres in height (approx. 13 feet); small pinkish flowers resemble a string of petite Chinese lanterns; oval-shaped green leaves up to 10 cm (4"); black/dark-purple, hairyish berries top out at 1 cm (0.4").
Notes: 1) An important food for Indigenous Peoples, eaten fresh or crushed and dried on Skunk Cabbage leaves; the berry cakes are rolled up and stored for winter consumption. 2) Use proper picking technique to avoid stained fingers and clothes; Coast Salish peoples used mashed berries as a purple stain. 3) Salal stems with leaves are frequently
found in commercial flower arrangements.
Armenian Blackberry (Rubus armeniacus) / Rose Family
Other Names: Himalayan Blackberry.
Taste: Fully ripened Armenian Blackberries are sweet and DELICIOUS!
Season: Flowers—starting mid-June; Fruit ripe—mid-August.
Habitat/Local Sites: Grows next to island roads and along streams, meadows, and fields; widespread throughout the SGI, the most common of the three blackberry species.
Plant Description: Jumbled, impenetrable thickets; cane/stem angular and armed with stout thorns/prickles; stem can reach 9-12 metres (approx. 30-40 feet) across; white, toothed and oval five-petal flower; full-grown shrub presents 5 rounded to oblong leaves with toothed edges (smooth above, covered with white hairs underneath), sometimes 3 leaflets when a young shrub; solid berry, ripens black or dark purple.
Notes: 1) Highly sought-after berries by pickers; prized by people and wild animals. 2) Native to Armenia and Iran, introduced to North America in 1885. 3) Species is highly invasive; seeds are spread through berries that fall onto the ground.
Cutleaf Blackberry (Rubus laciniatus) / Rose Family
Other Names: Evergreen Blackberry.
Taste: Delectable-tasting berry similar to Armenian Blackberry; has been collected by humans for centuries and is loved by smaller wild animals and birds.
Season: Flowers—starting mid-June; Fruit ripe—end of July-September.
Habitat/Local Sites: Sunny, disturbed ecosystems like ditches and farmland, forest edges; not as common as Armenian Blackberry but still widespread in the SGI.
Plant Description: Sprawling and arching cane/stem up to four metres tall (approx. 13 feet) and 6-9 metres (approx. 20-30 feet) in length, with stiff, curved prickles; small, white to pinkish 5-petal flowers; deeply incised and toothed leaves found mostly in groups of five on main stem; berry can be up to 2.5 cm (approx. 1 in) long.
Notes: As with the Armenian Blackberry, this species is highly invasive; native to Eurasia.
Other Wild Edible Berries Worth Tasting (that I’ve eaten)
Black Hawthorn (Flowers—May; Fruit ripe—mid-June): Five-petal white flowers; berries hang in bunches and are ripe when purple-black, squishy, and pick easily, and when you see birds eating them; the berry’s mildly sweet orange flesh resembles a mealy apple more than a juicy berry; berry contains seeds; branches have inch-long, stabby thorns; berries are a rich source of antioxidants.
*Woodland Strawberry (Flowers—May-June; Fruit ripe—June-July): (July): Showy white flowers with a yellow centre, three-toothed leaflets; juicy berry but smaller than the cultivated variety; found close to the ground in lower open forests. *I’ve yet to have the good fortune of finding a ripe wild strawberry, but it’s at the top of my search list.
Black Raspberry (Blackcap), our native raspberry (Flowers—June; Fruit ripe—July-August): The red-turns-to-dark purple-turns-to-black berry (by July or August) tastes like . . . a wild raspberry; the shrubs’ arching stems have a whitish waxy coating; Coast Salish peoples also used Black Raspberries mashed with Salal berries as a purple stain.
Thimbleberry (Flowers—mid-May; Fruit ripe—end of July-early August): These juicy, bright red, dome-shaped berries are found in clusters on this unarmed shrub; its maple-like leaves are the largest of the SGI berry varieties (up to 25 cm/approx. 10” across).
Baldhip Rose (Flowers—May-June; Fruit ripe—end of July-Fall): Small five-petalled, pale-pink, delicately fragrant flowers; red, pear-shaped, berry-like hips; carefully scrape the thin layer of fruit hip flesh away from the not-tasty seeds; the best-tasting hips are sweet and crunchy like a tropical-fruit flavoured apple; rosehips have a greater concentration of vitamin C than oranges; they’re said to make an excellent marmalade or jelly.
Oregon-grape (Flowers—end of May; Fruit ripe—August-Sept): Bright-yellow flowers; grape-blue berries are extremely tart with a hard seed; makes tasty jams, jellies, and grape juice or wine; common on the forest floor of Douglas fir-dominated SGI forests.
Arbutus (Flowers—Spring; Fruit ripe—mid-Sept-Xmas): The orange-red berries, eaten ripe and raw, are gritty and bland-tasting (but I like them); can be made into a cider or dried; some people report stomach issues with excessive consumption.
PICTURED BELOW: Other SGI Wild Edible Berries Worth Tasting.
Still-ripening Hawthorn Berries
Highly visible Common Snowberry SHOULD NOT BE PICKED. The bright-white berries of fall are considered poisonous (080426).
POISONOUS BERRIES of the SGI
If you ingest berries that you then learn are poisonous, you should immediately induce repeated vomiting while weakening the poison by consuming a large quantity of water. And seek our qualified medical attention ASAP!
POISONOUS BERRIES. The SGI’s only poisonous berries are Common Snowberry (referred to by some as ‘corpse berry’ or ‘snake’s berry’) and Red-Berried Elder.
CAUTION. 1) While edible, if the fine fibres are not removed from Nootka Rosehips before eating, they can bring about irritation when going number two; Indigenous Peoples ate Nootka Rosehips in times of famine. 2) Hairy Manzanita Berries can be eaten raw or cooked but are reputed to cause acute constipation.
Recommended Resources
Edible and Medicinal Flora of the West Coast, British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest (Expanded Edition) by Collin Varner • Paperback • $26.95 • 272 pages • 5.5” x 8.5” • Heritage House Publishing, 2023 • Practical, user-friendly guide for beginners and experienced SGI foragers • 24-page BERRIES section.
Plants of Coastal British Columbia including Washington, Oregon & Alaska by Jim Pojar & Andy MacKinnon • Paperback • $24.95 • 530 pages • 5.5” x 8.5” • B.C. Ministry of Forests, Partners Publishing and Lone Pine Publishing, 1994/2014 • Easy-to-use field guide featuring 794 plant species commonly found along the Pacific coast from Oregon to Alaska, including trees and shrubs that bear fruit, plus wildflowers, aquatic plants, grasses, ferns, mosses and lichens.
Some Useful WILD PLANTS. A Foraging Guide to Food and Medicine from Nature by Dan Jason • Paperback • $16.95 • 186 pages • 5” x 7” • Harbour Publishing, 2017.
Seek by iNaturalist • Seek by iNaturalist is a unique resource for identifying plants and their berries using your cell phone.
