SMALLER SHRUBS 2008
ALPINE CURRANT (Ribes alpinum)
The Alpine Currant is a small and suckering member of the currant family that although preferring a neutral-acid soil, is otherwise easy to grow, tolerating quite dense shade. It is said to perform well in poor soils, getting to be about 1m high and wide. As both male and female plants are required for fruit, it is often used as a low growing hedge or ground cover, spaced about 50cm apart.
The berry is like a redcurrant though sweeter and less acid and about 5mm in size.
Seedling: £5.50
Female: £7.00
Male: £7.00
APPLE ROSE (Rosa villosa/pomifera)
As its name suggests, this is the rose to grow for hips. Not only that, it is a handsome shrub in its own right, growing up to 1-2 metres tall given the chance, with single pink flowers and large bristly hips. It likes a sunny sheltered spot but almost any soil that isn’t water logged will do.
Everyone knows how good hips are, full of vit C, they make delicious syrup and wine. Do be sure to remove all the hairy stuff round the seeds though, as this can irritate the gut. (Naughty schoolboys once used it as itching powder.)
£5.00
BILBERRY (Vaccinium myrtillus)
Our native Bilberry is a sweet little shrub in more ways than one. It has many local variations on the name, (round here its known as the Whinberry) a testament to its long and constant use as a wild food. Not growing more than 0.5m high it is at home in either woodland or open moor so it can cope with anything the elements throw at it. Tolerant of deep shade, it will fruit better in the sun. Although this is a plant that desperately needs an acid soil, I find mine do very well in pots of lime free compost made up of composted bark and loam, indeed, they seem to fruit better than the plants in the local woods. They are self-sterile though, so you will need more than one for fruit.
The berries are like miniature Blueberries, to whom they are closely related and so can be used in similar ways. They do make a very good muffin and have been much used for tarts and home made wines over the years.
£5.50
BOX HUCKLEBERRY (Vaccinium ovatum)
This is an attractive member of the Vaccinium family very similar to the Lingonberry in appearance though getting somewhat taller. The evergreen leaves are a pleasant coppery colour when young maturing to dark green. Long racemes of pinkie white flowers are followed in late summer and through the autumn by black berries a little smaller than the Lingonberry but also a little sweeter I think. They don't seem to mind the shade though the berries are more abundant with sun. Would make a good small hedge in lime free soil.
£5.50
CRANBERRY (Vaccinium macrocarpon)
The Cranberry is currently very popular in the form of juices and dried fruits. In spite of its preference for a very moist acid soil, it seems to do quite well in containers if kept well watered (with rain water if possible) in the summer. It does best in full sun and having a very prostrate habit it scrambles and roots where it goes. Pretty pale pink flowers and dark red fruits. Ours are the wild American type, cultivated forms can now be got quite easily in some garden centres, but we find ours are hardy and pest resistant producing reasonable sized fruit.
In America they are harvested in the autumn with a sort of large wooden comb, or on a commercial scale the beds are flooded and the fruit some how floated away and corralled. We can usually pick all we need for a bit of jelly, or a source by hand but it is a bit fiddly.
On special offer while stocks last three for the price of two.
£5.00
CROWBERRY (Empetrum nigrum)
Called Dearcan feannaig in Scots Gaelic this is a truly wild plant at home on the peaty moors of Scotland. Actually though, ours are happy in containers though we have yet to see any fruit (but then they are only babies.) If you have a shady, peaty spot then so much the better and it would probably be good as a ground cover in such conditions. Looking a bit like heather and growing up to about 30cm, it is hardy and evergreen and also said to do well in rock gardens or under other acid loving shrubs.
The fruit, a small black berry born in clusters, is ripe in the autumn and some say it has turpentine like taste, slightly acid. It is rich in vitamin C and used to be eaten raw and was once made into a sort of drink with sour milk. Perhaps just adding them to a fruit salad would be preferable.
£4.50
HIMALAYAN CREEPING BRAMBLE (Rubus nepalensis)
A big name for a small plant. Small but useful as it will cover any ground any where, it’s even doing well here on the tarmac. Though it will tolerate deep shade it will fruit better with a bit of sun. Creeping along the ground it never gets very high, sending down roots as it goes. Single white flowers shoot up through the summer followed by shiny red bramble like fruits through the autumn. I like nibbling them as I am pottering about though I should think they would make a nice pie if you could be bothered to pick enough.
£4.50
HONEYSUCKLE (Lonicera caerulea)
The Blue Honeysuckle, is a small shrub from Eastern Europe that actually has yellow flowers early in the spring, blue-grey foliage and purple berries which are one of the earliest fruit crops of the season. It is very hardy and would look good in any garden. Cultivated forms are grown commercially in parts of Russia though we find the fruit can be variable from plant to plant, some being a bit on the bitter side, not that the birds will mind.
£5.50
JAPANESE QUINCE (Chaenomeles japonica)
A hardy deciduous shrub about 1m high with a spreading habit and spiny branches, its profuse, bright orange flowers are often seen in gardens during the spring where they give a welcome splash of colour. Growing in any soil, it looks good as a hedge, flowering and fruiting more in full sun. The bees love it too.
The fragrant yellow fruits are about 40mm across, they are quite freely produced and are better cooked, making a scented pink jelly or adding an exotic aroma to an apple pie.
£5.00
LINGONBERRY (Vaccinium vitis- idaea)
Lingonberries are native to the cold north of the world where they are much prized. A low growing, spreading, evergreen shrub only reaching about 30cm high, it needs a fairly moist lime free soil and prefers some shade. It has delicate white flowers in the summer, followed by red berries in the autumn that are about 10mm in size and similar to their cousins the Cranberries. They will do quite well in tubs.
In Scandinavia they are often used, amongst other things, to make a source served with Rain deer meat.
£5.50
MYRTLE (Myrtus communis)
Yes the Common Myrtle will produce an aromatic fruit in a good summer. A pretty leafy evergreen shrub to about 1-2m, more against a warm wall it's a native to the Mediterranean region. The white frothy flowers are followed by purple black berries which are fragrant and used for juice or jelly.
£5.50
NANKING CHERRY (Prunus tomentosa)
This member of the cherry family is a more of a spreading shrub than a tree. It is very hardy coming as it does from the Russian Far East where it is the most common, garden fruit plant. The blossom appears early in the spring, is white and somewhat frost tolerant and often born in profusion. It will grow anywhere but does best in full sun and a well-drained soil, being used to dry conditions.
The cherries are ready in early summer. They are usually red and abundant with a very pleasant flavour.
£5.00
OREGON GRAPE (Mahonia repens)
Loved by the bees for their profuse and early yellow flowers are these tough and useful evergreen shrubs. Doing well in deep shade, they will put up with almost anything but water logging and eventually spread by suckers to form a good ground cover under trees etc. They are generally trouble free and easily produce clusters of bloomy dark blue berries through the summer that cook well and are similar to Blackcurrants in taste. Much used in USA, as the name would suggest.
£5.50
SALAL (Gaultheria shallon)
Another native of the Western United States, the Salal is a woodland evergreen shrub that is hardy and spreads by underground suckers in the right conditions to make a good ground cover under trees. It needs a moist lime free soil in a shady spot. With its bristly reddish stems and pale pink flowers in late spring it is ornamental as well as useful.
The abundant dark purple berries are about 10mm in size, juicy and pleasant. Try adding them to fruit salads. The North American Indians used to dry them and turn them into cakes.
£5.50
SALMONBERRY (Rubus spectabilis)
This plant is often grown as an ornamental. Although a bit on the prickly side it is easier to manage than other members of the Raspberry family to whom it belongs being more upright in habit. Attractive foliage and bright pink flowers opening in early spring it makes a decorative hedge about 1.5m high. Sun or shade seems to suit it and any soil.
The fruit is usually ripe several weeks before the Raspberry, which it closely resembles except that it’s shiny and a lovely amber/orange in colour. It is very tasty and rarely gets as far as the house, watch out for the birds though.
£5.00
Sea Grape (ephedra distachya)
Also called Shrubby Horsetail, giving clues about it’s curious appearance. It forms dense patches of short spiky, stems on which the leaves have been reduced to tiny scales and would make a good groundcover on dry sandy soil where, so long as there’s full sun it’ll be happy. The rather non existing flowers are followed if you’re lucky, by bright red berries said to be sweet and juicy. This plant is also highly sort as the source of ephedrine, much used in herbal medicine for all sorts.
£6.00
SUMACH (Rhus trilobata)
There are several members of this family that produce edible berries and I hope to have more available next year. All are decorative, deciduous shrubs or trees sometimes grown ornamentally for their rich colour in the autumn. They are easy to grow, liking full sun and a well-drained soil, and as an added bonus they are resistant to honey fungus. This is one of the smaller varieties, growing to about 1.5m high. It comes from the western side of the USA where the Indians used many of its parts medicinally.
The downy red berries are about 6mm, acid and lemon like in flavour, often used to make a lemony drink by just soaking them in cold water for 10-30 minutes and sweetened as required, or cooked and made into jam.
WINTERGREEN (gaultheria procumbens) SOLD OUT
A useful groundcover plant this, especially for a shady spot. Low growing and evergreen it prefers an acid soil though here it thrives on our neutral one, doing all right under conifers it tolerates deep shade but will perform better with some dappled sun. It flowers, pale pink, right through the summer and produces its bright red berries right through the winter. These are used as a flavouring for chewing gum amongst other things…
£5.00
WOLFBERRY (Lycium barbarum/chinensis)
Or Matrimony Vine, or Chinese Box Thorn, or more commonly known these days as the Goji Berry, for which there so are many extravagant health claims that the juice has become available even in some supermarkets. The Wolf Berry can make a good hedge, especially in exposed sites, eventually reaching about 1.5m, with spiny, arching stems. Fine grey-green leaves and funnel-shaped purple flowers through June to September, followed by the highly prized, small egg-shaped orange or scarlet berries of about 25mm. Not only that but in China the leaves are often used as a flavouring, and for making tea, which accounts for another of it's common names Duke Of Argyle's Tea Plant.
£6.00