The early ones: ripening sequence northcentral West Virginia, growing zone 6, 1000 feet elevation, east slope, wet spring now become dry: honeyberry (edible blue honeysuckle, typically small), followed by haskap (edible blue honeysuckle, typically larger), followed by small goumi, then near simultaneous large goumi and Juneberry and Nanking cherry. And then: Carmine Jewel cherry and… Continue reading End May, Begin June Ripe 2023

Chokecherry blooms, first three photos. Lavender lilac blooms, fourth photo. The lilac is in full leaf and bloom, while the black walnut tree to its left still has scant budding leaves. Red elderberry in bloom at the base of a Norway spruce tree, fifth photo. This red elderberry bush is in full shade. Meanwhile, red… Continue reading Early May Flora

Great work: Planting Justice. Exceptional plant nursery.

Edible blue honeysuckle, ripe already, the Berry Blue variety, with the great flavor of a tart grape and strawberry and wild blueberry, mixed. The very earliest ripening varieties of edible blue honeysuckle are usually called honeyberry, with lineage typically originating primarily in eastern Europe and Russia. The later but still very early ripening varieties of… Continue reading Edible Blue Honeysuckle – The Early Berry

May 8th, 2023 fruit development stages cross species, northcentral West Virginia zone 6. Most black elderberry has not bloomed yet, let alone set fruit. Apple and medlar seem late blooming. Among the earliest blooming species were haskap, juneberry, Nanking cherry, apricot, peach, and Asian plum, of which Nanking cherry partially set fruit, haskap set better,… Continue reading One Day Comparison

About 10 to 12 feet up in an old tree, this wild gooseberry bush is full of blooms. Stretching about 4 feet by 4 feet, entirely protected by sky from deer and rabbit browse, this is the second largest gooseberry bush I’ve seen in the wild: Most gooseberry bushes that I’ve seen in the wild… Continue reading The Gooseberry Bush That Took To The Sky

Wild red elderberry fruiting end of April, northern PA. Unlike black elderberries, red elderberries are toxic to humans.

Mid April blooms of pawpaw, bush cherry, bluebell, goumi, haskap, autumnberry, rabbit-eye blueberry, plus elderberry leaves and white birch catkins. In the second photo that shows a caged Juliet bush cherry on the left, a couple goumi bushes in the middle, and a deer-browsed black elderberry bush on the right, note the height of the… Continue reading Mid April Blooms 2023

The other strong contender to pawpaw for the title of native North American fig is the (American) persimmon. In major ways, persimmon is a stronger contender for the continental fig title than is pawpaw. The size, shape, look, edible skin – and arguably texture and taste – of persimmon fruit is more similar to fig… Continue reading Lessons of the Fig #3: Persimmon

“With leaves and branches that deer avoid, and fruit that is loved by all, the pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is a fascinating native tree. It’s the only local member of a large, mainly-tropical plant family (Annonaceae), and produces the largest edible fruit native to North America. Despite being a small, understory tree, unlikely to ever grow… Continue reading Lessons of the Fig #2: Pawpaw