My first introduction to Clayton was his comment on my post about cold climate seeds. On his recommendation I checked out the links in his sidebar. That’s how I found out he grows edible blue honeysuckle, a fruit that is extremely hardy. I thought my readers would like to know more about it, so I asked him to write a guest post.
Edible Blue Honeysuckle – A New Dream Crop for Prairie Berry and Fruit Growers
If you have been searching the internet lately, you may have come across this title on a blog about growing this very interesting fruit plant. The blog is my personal story about this tough plant which originates in the southern reaches of Siberia and the north of China and as far as the Kuril Islands north of Japan. Its botanical roots are in the Family Caprifoliaceae, Genus Lonicera, species caerulea. Edible blue honeysuckle fruit is also known as Haskap and Honeyberries.
Clayton stands with a 1.5 year-old Polish seedling
They were very enthused about the potential of the edible blue honeysuckle because of its hardy nature and good fruit production potential under difficult conditions. They also intimated in those early days that there seemed to be very little problem with disease or insect pests which are welcome traits in this day when less is more in terms of pesticides. All in all this seemed like an interesting plant to bring into the home garden and try. Currently I grow about three hundred of these shrubs, including ten named varieties and numerous seedlings in various stages of growth. I am also seeding to produce about two hundred to two hundred fifty more plants.
What Do Edible Blue Honeysuckles Taste Like?
The berry is a pale to dark blue, sometimes with a waxy overlay which makes it look dusty white. The flavour is described as a blueberry with black currant and black raspberry overtones. It seems the flavour is somewhat dependent on the level of polyphenols (antioxidants) and the soil types. They are certainly better well-ripened. The Russian types can be harvested all at one picking while the Japanese-area types tend to ripen over an extended time and are later by ten to fifteen days.
Clayton's wife created this Blue Honeysuckle Crumble based on a recipe for blueberries. Clayton says honeysuckles have more liquid so it was a little runny. The sauce would be great over ice cream!
We have used the berries for pies, jam, jelly and deep-fried treats. Locally, we have a producer at the Farmer’s Market who makes ice cream. Mmmmm, good! The fruit can be somewhat tart so some mixing of fruit may be helpful. (We did a blueberry/honeysuckle mix and it was very good). You can find examples of their use on the internet. Many products are available, especially on the Island of Hokkaido in Japan, and a search for Haskap or Haskup will bring up sites which illustrate these products.
How To Grow Edible Blue Honeysuckle
This is a plant that is, as I stated earlier, very hardy, so should be able to be grown anywhere where there is reasonable soil for gardening, a little protection from winds (better pollination and prevention of berry drop), and moderate rainfall. Cold hardiness is not an issue! The flowers are known to survive at -7C or 19F. They require very little, if any, fertilizing, but can be encouraged with a very light application of low nitrogen fertilizer, probably after the blooming season, applied at the base of the plant.
They do require a mate to pollinate so be sure you get two varieties. Some pair up better than others, so ask about this when you are purchasing plants. Do not be fooled into thinking you are getting a male and female plant. This is not the case. Rather, both plants need pollen from another plant to be productive and set fruit. One of your plants may not have as good fruit since the pollinator varieties are sometimes chosen because their pollen works better on the good variety. But fruit from both plants will be edible! They should be planted with a good spacing between so ask about the final size of the variety you buy and allow at least five feet between the plants. This will give room for maintenance and harvesting. Commercial growers are encouraged to allow eighteen feet between rows if you are going to mechanical harvest.
Since they bloom very early, as soon as the snow begins to recede and temperatures are constant at 5 to 8 degrees above freezing, the blooming pattern is already set. The flowers are insignificant so this is not an ornamental. The developing fruit will need protection from the birds. Robins and cedar waxwings will fly right into the area while you are putting up the net. For most areas harvest will take place about six to eight weeks after the bloom is finished. This is somewhat dependent on variety. Pest control is not an issue so general weed control will be the only real work while the fruit develops and on into the fall after harvest.
Where Can You Buy Them?
Finally, which varieties are available, and what do you buy? There are several varieties in the species and those which have come to the North American gardener are likely hybrids of those species. As was stated above, the key is that you will need two plants, usually not related to each other. The selection process has really already been done for you and most places (remember you’re not buying a male and female) will sell plants which are compatible in terms of pollinating each other. The best information on varieties for your location is the local Horticulture Department of your university or Dept. of Agriculture. In searching for information, I have noticed that most northern states and the provinces of Canada have some information. Also check out the local tree nurseries, garden centers, or online – you may have to look for Haskap, Honeyberry or Blue Honeysuckle since nurseries are not uniform in their naming. I refer you to a good article by Craig Larson on the different varieties. Try them – you might like them!
More Information About Edible Blue Honeysuckles
Some good sources for reference on the internet are Plants for a Future Database for the North American cousins, some of which do have edible fruit and Wikipedia which has a good coverage of the included subspecies. Of course there is much information now coming out of various Departments of Agriculture and Universities who are trying to improve on the materials which have come from those places mentioned above. You will find that some of the very earliest information on breeding and selection will be found in articles by Russian plant breeders as well as other member countries that were part of the former USSR. More recently, there is the further development of materials for the Great Plains of the North American continent and the registration of names by breeders and marketers. In this information you will find the names Honeyberries and Haskap. These are still the basic edible blue honeysuckle which has taken on a new identity.
Some good reference sites
- Haskap Arrives in North America by Dr. Maxine Thompson
- Craig Larson’s Haskap Wine Blog
- University of Saskatchewan Fruit Program
- Haskaps and Honeyberries at University of Idaho
- You can follow my adventures with this berry here.
- A search for Lonicera caerulea will bring up many other sources of information and some great photos.
Clayton grows the edible blue honeysuckle as a serious hobby, researching and breeding these plants in the hopes of finding new cultivars suitable for marketing. His current favorite is “#51 in our seedling nursery #2.” Feel free to ask questions in the comment form. We are interested in hearing from anyone who has experience growing these berries–or eating them!
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Thanks so much for the great information! I bought two of these by mail a couple years ago….no fruit yet but they are growing very well for me in zone 4. Glad for the tip on birds, as I already have a big flock of waxwings on my neighbor’s mulberry tree.
i’m a master gardener in kansas city. does anyone know if they can handle our extreme heat and more importantly will they bear fruit? big fan
We planted 100+ of these plants last fall and most have started to break bud with a few actually unfolding leaves. Our daytime highs have been 8-10 deg C. I dont expect much more than a taste this year but I’m sure looking forward to that. I’ll be interested to see how they cope with a late frost if we get one.
Here is a list of Canadian Propagators who can tell you where to get the new University of Saskatchewan varieties of Haskap. Other varieties of Edible Blue Honeysuckle are quite easy to find through mail-order or your local nurseries might be bringing them in by now.
http://www.fruit.usask.ca/propogators.html
On another topic follow this link to find out where some of the named US registered varieties came from.
http://bluehoneysuckle.blogspot.com/2009/05/blue-honeysuckle-registry-from-2006.html. As you can see they are mostly Russian or European plants which have been renamed for the North American market. So one needs to watch if you someone offering the Russian named variety, you could already have it by the North American name.
What a great idea. I am all for a hearty plant that is hard to kill through weather and water. I really enjoy making those types of pies– and literally my mouth started watering when you said ice cream! I’m sure it’s amazing. Hopefully I have the right climate– I’ll have to read up on it some more.
-Sylvia
Very interesting plant! I would love to try it! I have had success in growing shrubs from seed and would like to try this one. Is there anywhere I can purchase or trade for seeds?
Someone wrote about this blue honeysuckle a year or so back, and it fascinated me then. I’d like to try them, so I’m going to talk to a nursery owner I’m friends with and see if he can get some for us to try.
cottonM -Here is a second page on Plants for a Future Database http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Lonicera+caerulea
Read the comments at the bottom of the page re seed distribution. I have not found any seedlings in 4 years.
Good point on size. They are quite variable depending on the variety available. Height can vary from 3 ft. to about 7ft. Width up to about 5 ft. They need to be pruned as most fruiting shrubs and kept to 5 to 7 good stems. This best achieved by planting your plant a little deeper when received and allowing some shoots to rise up. One of the Horticulture folks at Saskatchewan Ag and Food suggested pruning this way as being the most likely to maintain a healthy open plant. So far I do not find them suckering at all.
When I hear the genus ‘Lonicera’ what comes to mind is ‘Lonicera tatarica’ which is a serious invasive. I notice that 2/3 of the subspecies mentioned on Wikipedia are not North American. If as has been described above “. The developing fruit will need protection from the birds. Robins and cedar waxwings will fly right into the area while you are putting up the net.” should we all be cautious? It is primarily birds that spread ‘L. tatarica’.
Also I would have liked a bit more info on the plant especially size & growth rate. It does sound interesting.
Thanks for all the comments.
This plant thus far would not rank as a great landscape plant. They are very nice while they are in full fruit production but they begin to shut down soon after, particularly in the heat of summer. They might be encouraged to stay green with some constant watering but it is really not their habit. They might be seen to have disease in the summer season but mostly it is this shutting down which causes the leaves to discolor. They do become somewhat vulnerable to leaf spot diseases at this time but it takes a good eye to discern the difference.
Note the flowers are not very significant (quite different from the climbers in this family) and very early so you would need to have hummers very early in your area. Bees are by far the most common pollinators.
I have a pair on order and I can’t wait until they are here, planted and then start producing… always on the lookout for hardy prairie fruits and berries!
(Calgary, AB)
Twitter: @suburbangarden
Does the foliage show autumn color? What do the plants look like in winter? In a small garden, such as mine, plants need to perform multiple functions, so ornamental qualities are as important as the food production.
Funny, I’ve been looking into what kind of small fruits I could grow in our new garden- thanks for posting this!
Hi;
A blue honeysuckle! I love blue and the hummers sure love the honeysuckles. Sounds fantastic. I am very anxious to learn more and try it out in my garden. What a great, informative post. Thanks for the tip!