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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Ka-Bluey blueberr, from the source

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  • From: Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Ka-Bluey blueberr, from the source
  • Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:53:03 -0500

Amelia, for the dampish soil in your woods, I have read of a gourmet chef making a kind of relish of spicebush berries (the plant is related to cinnamon and sassafras, and the twigs give off a cinnamon smell when bruised). The berries are said to contain 35% fat/oil and migrating birds like them very much. It grows to about 10 feet, and I've seen it as an understory plant on flat heavy clay where large puddles persist in the wet weather of fall; also in semi-shade on a sandy loam slope; and I've grown up small plants in a sandy nursery bed in full sun with some watering.

I've seen red raspberries that looked and tasted like cultivated ones growing in semi-shade in sandy loam in a woods here, fruiting sparsely but worth picking.

From reading I gather that actinidia (especially A. kolomikta) is happier with a little shade or an edge situation than in full sun; perhaps those with personal experience with actinidia could comment.

The books claim that wild ribes (currants and gooseberries) grow in light shade; I don't know how much they will fruit there but they are said to reproduce in the wild in semi-shade. I have only grown them in full sun.

I recall that Robert Nitschke in his Southmeadow Fruit Gardens catalogue of 1968 said that his English Morello cherries grown against a north wall were "of a size and quality unobtainable in full sun."
I see that sour cherries, probably Montmorency seedlings planted by the birds, grow up in small openings in the woods here and bear some fruit.

I am a member of a community group planting a park here (intended to be semi-wild) with native species. Our best pawpaw, Amelanchier laevis (smooth/Allegany serviceberry) and groundnut (Apios americana, herbaceous vine, edible tuber, likes moist soil rich in organic material) are growing in a northwest edge wind-sheltered to the west, at the bottom of a gentle slope.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario


On 11/02/2011 6:50 AM, Amelia Hayner wrote:

[snip]

we bought a small woodlot directly behind the house, just a tiny strip, when
we bought this place, cause they had huge machinery ready to raze it to the
ground.
there's a run of water through there, most of the year, although it's choked
with small trees.
I have an idea of gradually clearing them out, so more light can come in,
and plant some blueberries in there, with some native azaleas as well.
thanks again- I expect Gurneys' ought to thank you as well!
Amy




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