One of the downsides of planting quite so much fruit on my allotment is that I’ll have to wait until next summer to harvest half of it. That’s just one of those things, and the varieties that I’ve chosen that do fruit on year-old wood are more than worth the wait, especially when some of the bushes earn their keep by being visual stunners in the meantime.

These two blackcaps will fruit on year-old wood, and what lovely wood it is too. It is the dogwood of the veg patch: bright and cheery when all else is still rather bare.

Rubus occidentalis has wonderful bright red stems. I can’t wait until next winter when these are a bright tangle, ready for the fruiting next year.

Rubus leucodermis has ghostly white stems and sweet peachy thorns.

Blackcaps are also known as black raspberries, and I have to admit that I’m growing them as much because they are unusual as any other reason. I could only find them at Kore Wild Fruit Nursery, and the owner, Coral Guppy, told me this: “The blackcaps grow in the same way as a summer fruiting raspberry, so they will hopefully fruit for you next year on the canes they produce this year. I find the canes of the R. occidentalis branch out in their second year more than other raspberries and don’t generally get so tall.”

For now, though, I’ve got those fab bright stems to entertain me. They’d be perfect in a potager where you want to incorporate cane fruit but don’t fancy the brown tangly mess of normal raspberries or blackberries, lending colour and height in the winter when both are so scarce.