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GARDENER'S
READING ROOM
Edibles
Berry
Delicious Small Fruits at Sky!
 Have
you ever considered growing berries and other small fruits
in your home garden? Many small fruits are well suited to
the home landscape and make attractive ornamentals. Homegrown
berries also cost less, taste better, and are always fresh.
We carry a wide variety of small fruits well adapted to our
region.
This
year we have 11 raspberry varieties, including a new one called
Caroline. Caroline is
an everbearing type resistant to rust and root rot (very important
in our region). Its large fruits ripen earlier than Heritage,
at about the same time as Amity.
The bright red berries are sweet and complement the outstanding
flavor of Amity. In my opinion, both get two thumbs up. If
you are interested in summer fruiting varieties, Tulameen,
Meeker, and Willamette
are all excellent choices. We carry other good varieties so
it is best to look at our raspberry information sheet or talk
to someone at the nursery for more information.
In
addition to standards like the Loganberry
and Marionberry, we are
offering two new varieties of blackberries this year. Black
Butte is an early-mid season variety with very
large fruit well suited for fresh eating. Triple
Crown is a new outstanding thornless variety. It
is a late season type, ripening in August, which, depending
on your space, can be trained as an erect or trailing variety.
The large, flavorful fruits are produced in abundance -- up
to 30 lbs per plant.
What
is summer without blueberry muffins? We have added another
outstanding blueberry variety to the 8 which we already carry.
Olympia has large fruit
and great flavor. It is a must have blueberry. Olympia's
leaves provide good fall color as well, and the twigs are
light red in winter. Aronia melanocarpa
also has attractive foliage. You may have seen aronia juice
in the store, but now you can add this plant to your landscape.
Aronia berries make good preserves while the plants are very
hardy and easy to grow.
What
else should you be looking for? We carry a number of strawberry
and grape varieties as
well as currants (red,
white and black) and gooseberries.
The jostaberry, a tasty
hybrid between a black currant and gooseberry, is another
new addition this year.
If
you are interested in berries for your landscape, I strongly
recommend coming earlier rather than later. Not only will
the selection be better, but it will be less stressful for
the plants. For more information stop by the nursery or give
us a call.
By Michael Dossett
Skylights Winter/Spring 2000, Vol 14, No. 1
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