A Few Fruit Plants in my Garden

The season for what we generically call “berries”* is starting in my garden; although some of the plants are new to me and too young to produce fruit this year, and others are recovering from past neglect, I am including them all on the list: 

1) Black Currants (Ribes nigrum) – The berries mature at slightly different times along each branch, so I harvest the ripe ones as they turn almost black on the branches (photo at the top of this post).  Currants are hardy plants, and I have had a healthy one and nice crops every year for almost a decade now, after a good friend gifted me a cutting from her plants. The cutting grew from one to four feet, and has expanded in width as well; a couple of years ago, I propagated a few cuttings for my friends, and kept one, now growing to the left of the original one (both seen in the photo, below):

I usually wash and freeze the fruit, and cook and bottle jam in the fall, once temperatures go down.

2) Raspberries (Rubus idaeus) –  I mentioned that my neglected raspberry canes are in recovery this season, so I am not expecting fruit, but the leaves are looking stronger and promising for future crops (photo below, left, a month ago, and right, this week): 

3) New plantings – The seedlings and small plants I bought this spring are still alive, but a bit on a tightrope right now, developing new growth, but looking  stressed:

                Saskatoon Berry (Amelanchier alnifolia) photo below, left last month, and photo below, right, this week:  

               Goji Berry (Lycium barbarum), photo below, left last month, and right, this week:

           And Sea Buckthorn ((Hippophae rhamnoides), the male (photos below, left a month ago and second this week) and female Citrus Gold (photos below, third a month ago and right, this week):

Hopefully with more sun and warmer weather they will recover and continue getting established.

4) Strawberries (Fragaria sp.) – In spite of their name, botanically speaking not berries but aggregate fruits, my new climbing Albion plants came with a small fruit, and now are green and healthy, but not a trace of flowers yet (photo below, left a month ago, and right, this week):

5) Cherries (Prunus sp.) – My tree of the Stella variety is often featured on this blog; it has been in my garden for twelve years now, with a couple of late frosts that almost kill it over the years.  This year I had a very decent crop, but the birds and other Fauna also appreciate good quality fruit, especially a fierce pair of robins lifeguarding their nest nearby (photo below, left); the tree was completely depleted of the red drupes in no time (photo below, right):

I managed to harvest just a handful; I understand the animals’ greed, though, they are delicious:

6) Mulberry (Morus sp.) – I did a quick search on this website, and I am a little surprised that I had not mentioned my mulberry plant until now.  although the children’s song talks about a “mulberry bush”, these plants can grow up to 21 m (70 ft). The flowers grow in clusters, and each cluster produces one fruit, or more precisely, an aggregate that resembles an elongated blackberry:

This mulberry just sprouted next to our garage many years ago, and because it is so close to the structure, we trim it twice or three times a year to keep it manageable as a bush (just like the song, lol, photo below, left). The fruit is harvested when it has completely or almost completely turned black, sweet and loaded with antioxidants (photo below, right):

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* FUN FACT: Botanically speaking with precision, the type of fruit called berries are characterized as a single fruit with several seeds; some examples are squash, tomatoes, goji, currants and blueberries. In spite of their names, strawberries and raspberries are not true berries, but aggregate fruits, other examples being mulberries and blackberries. “Stone” fruits, fleshy and with just one seed, are called drupes, and some examples are cherries, sea buckthorn, olives, and peaches. Finally, pomes have an edible layer under a smooth skin, and a central core with several seeds, such as apples, and Saskatoon berries.

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I am joining Six on Saturday for June 21, 2025, hosted by Jim Stephens @ Garden Ruminations.

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