top of page

In Bloom: Honeyberry



Oh my goodness. So nearly 2 decades ago when I bought my first home, I fell madly in love with almost everything that the owner of Buffalo Gardens, a little nursery that started out on Alberta and moved within blocks of my home in Woodlawn a few years later (ultimately the wonderful owner sold it to another local owner and then, tragically, the lot was sold and the nursery literally closed months before we left for the farm), and fondly remember buying “one of each” when initially creating my beautiful front yard garden, one I brought from white-picket-fence-and-grass to a flowery wonderland that made me happy Every Single Day. And whenever I went there I always curiously peered at the honeyberry bushes she had for sale, and encouraged me to try, and yet I never took the plunge.


Years passed, and even on the farm I never got around to experimenting with this crazy gorgeous berry, and then, all these years later, landing in the Skagit Valley and deciding to create this Fruit Forest in our backyard? It spurred me to buy two late-blooming honeyberry bushes (also known as ‘haskap’ - not nearly as cool of a moniker IMHO...) at our local nursery, as it particularly thrives in part shade AND has no problem with cold (thanks to climate change, while we’re technically in zone 8, after this winter’s unheard of single digit temps, I’ve started buying nearly everything that is zone 7-friendly). Considering it’s a native of Eastern Siberia and Northern Japan? I am not surprised it is flourishing already…and can’t wait to give them a taste!

Comments


bottom of page