I am excited to see that my Honeyberry bushes are in full bloom right now! The thought of getting some of the fruit later this year is very exciting. I have only ever had one berry in my entire life. There was one small berry on the plant when I bought it. I planted it two years ago in the summer. Last year, we had such a messy spring with a very late, heavy snow fall which destroyed a lot of the flowers and buds. The plants struggled to get a second start. This spring is looking good!
Honeyberries are a native of Siberia. They are cold hardy down to –40F. The berries are shaped like a blackberry, but the skin is solid more like a blueberry. The flavor is somewhere in between the two if I remember right. It has been two years. I hope to be able to report on harvesting berries later this year.
Hopefully, the native pollinators, like bumblebees, are hard at work. My honeybees are officially dead; they appear to have starved through the winter. I have a new package on order and they should be in here in a couple weeks.
I'm not familiar with the honeyberry so I had to look it up, Lonicera caerulea. I'll have to check with our local nurseries for this, thanks for the lead. Sorry the bees didn't make it.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with them. There are some really great nurseries in Oregon. *Jealous*
DeleteReally sorry to hear about the bees.
ReplyDeleteThanks keith. Me too. Hoping the new ones will be better.
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