One of the plants that most of all resist the cold, thanks to its origin from Northern Europe, is the raspberry. A perennial and sarmentose shrub, which is made up of a small stump from which biennial shoots grow and covered with a thin hair, which can also be thorny. The raspberry is a cousin of the apple and pear tree, of which it shares the family, and it really includes many species spread all over the world.
The Raspberry, therefore also suitable for cultivation on a balcony or terrace, grows up to 150 or 200cm in height, and in spring it produces delightful small white-pink flowers, which develop in pyramid-shaped groups. There are also some Raspberries that produce fruit in summer, on branches that are already one year old; others in spring and late summer, although the most typical variety produces fruits especially in late summer and early autumn.
We all know what raspberries are like: sweet and juicy, they are tiny drupes or berries attached around a receptacle, from which they detach very easily. They can be used for the preparation of liqueurs and jams, and its leaves are also very often used in herbal medicine.
It is not known why the two fruits share the same name, since they do not look alike and above all they do not even belong to the same family. The only similarity, perhaps, is in the aroma emanating from the pulp, which is quite similar.
The one that interests us, however, is the lesser known of the two, European medlar which therefore has no particular needs or necessities in Italy, while remaining more suitable for climates such as that of Northern Italy (the summer heat of Central and Southern Italy often he ruins it and makes it bear little fruit). The Germanic medlar really produces a lot of flowers, and for this reason it is very nice to have in the garden, in a sunny area, even as an ornamental tree. Among other things, it produces a lot of fruit even if neglected ( this is not an invitation not to worry about it! ), Bronze-colored fruits, with a rounded shape and more or less large like golf balls, and like them rather hard and compact.