loganberries

[Carol Dee]

Bills Huckleberry or could they be Gooseberry?

 

[the1honeycomb]

AHA my son has informed me that the berries i am looking for are linden berries!! a product of Switzerland and a cousin to cranberries!

 

[897tgigvib]

I have Loganberries and Boysenberries.

The Boysenberry is more cylindrical than conical. The Boysenberry seems to average larger be cause of that. The Boysenberry is definitely heavier textured, call it meatier.

The Loganberry is about as long, but tapers toward the tip. The Loganberry definitely has aspects of that subtle Raspberry flavor, especially when picked at JUST the right stage. The Loganberry can be picked at more stages of ripeness. Picked a bit early it tastes like a Blackberry. Picked as it just gets purplish, it has that perfect almost Raspberry flavor. Picked a bit late, it is still sweet, but a touch bland.

Loganberry and Boysenberry have very similar growth patterns and relatively short soft thorning. I call the growth of both, floppy-viney. The Boysenberry is a bit more vigorous growing though, and puts up more new growth from the crown. Boysenberry's early new growth from the crown is very reddish. Loganberry does less of that. So if a person wants an easier to control berry the Loganberry is better.

Both Loganberry and Boysenberry really should be staked up because their canes will otherwise just create an impenetrable mound. They flower close to the same time. Boysenberry flowers won the race to flower first this year for me, by a day or so. My unknown wild local small bitter purple "raspberry" came in third for flowering.

 

[thistlebloom]

Loganberry, and Boysenberry are very similar in that they are both results of the blackberry and raspberry cross breeding, with slightly different parental variety's. The Boysen may actually have been the result of a Loganberry/blackberry cross. Boysenberry nursery stocks were hit hard a couple years ago, from a disease. You would be lucky to find canes available for them.

I wonder if the berry that Honeycomb's thinking of, may be the Huckleberry? They are very blueberry like, but often red, and generally a smaller berry. Just a slightly tart flavor, they are fantastic in pies!
Usually they grow wild in the forest, along with the blue variety of them. I've never seen them sold commercially around here.

My understanding is that hucks only grow above 4000' elevation.

There has been work in establishing varieties that will grow in the home garden. I've seen them advertised but don't know much about their success.

I love to go huckleberry picking, there's nothing like pulling a bag of your summer stash out of the freezer in the winter and making something tasty!

 

[thistlebloom]

AHA my son has informed me that the berries i am looking for are linden berries!! a product of Switzerland and a cousin to cranberries!

Lingonberries then?

(Lindens are a tree)

 

[the1honeycomb]

Yes!! Lingonberries!!!

 

[bills]

I have a Linden tree in my yard, and confirm they don't grow edible berry's of any sort. BUT, I was surprised when in a health food store recently, that Linden leaves and flowers, are often dried and used for tea. Huh..never knew that. The store owner was all excited when I told him I had a tree, (as I guess they are not very common around here), and wanted to know if he could harvest from it. Hmm..little undecided about that still..He didn't offer me any payment, and I see it sells for as much as $5 per ounce for the dried flowers..

http://www.lindentea.net/Linden-Tea-Benefits/


As far as huck's only growing at elevation..Here on the west coast, it is not uncommon to see them growing at sea level..I have several wild ones growing on my property.

 

[the1honeycomb]

Ive had the tea very yummy your should dry some your self

 

[thistlebloom]

As far as huck's only growing at elevation..Here on the west coast, it is not uncommon to see them growing at sea level..I have several wild ones growing on my property.

Hmmm...that's interesting. I was not aware of that.

............................................
I found a very informative article by the U of I, I excerpted some info from it below, but you can read the whole article here.
It discusses the differences in huck species, cultivation and propagation techniques.

"V. membranaceum Douglas ex Hooker, known as the black,
big, or thin-leaved huckleberry, grows throughout forested
areas in Idaho, western Montana, western Wyoming,
Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia."
"Black huckleberry grows at elevations between 2,000 and
11,500 feet above sea level, with many productive sites
located between 4,000 and 6,000 feet."

"Vaccinium deliciosum
Cascade or blue huckleberries grow on Washington’s
Olympic Peninsula and in the Cascade Range from northern
California into British Columbia. It is found at elevations
between 1,900 and 6,600 feet in subalpine coniferous
forests and alpine meadows."

Although native to mountain sites, V. deliciosum and
V. membranaceum have been field-grown successfully near
sea level in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and at 2,000 feet in
northern Idaho."


I learned a lot that I didn't know before. I guess the hucks you have are a different variety than the ones I pick around here. Who knew?

 

[897tgigvib]

I've found that wild or native ranges of plants don't necessarily mean that under cultivation the plants need the same altitudes.

For some of the higher altitude plants in the wild, those higher altitudes are where there is snow melt or water at the right times for them.

Some Fir trees grow wild in altitudes only 700 feet higher than where my cabin is. The kind folks around here call silver or silver tip Fir. When one begins to grow at lower altitudes, from bird or bear poop I guess, it just grows slowly, gets brown tips, and dies back at less than 8 inches tall. But there is one behind my garden getting toward 5 feet tall now. She gets the occasional splash of water from my hose.

The altitude requirements of plants in the wild would make for a really excellent study. I don't think it has anything to do with altitude induced air pressure requirements, but that could be scientifically checked. I kind of think it is temperature variations and gradients, along with when moisture arrives at what night time or day temperatures. Some alpine plants that want a very quick grow season just want snowmelt water to make a leaf or two, pop up a flower, make a few seeds, and go dormant as quick as possible.

With high altitude plants, just some experience with the kind, or some knowledge of other's experience growing in other altitudes helps. Some plants like cool summer nights of high altitude. Some are at altitude mainly to avoid browsers or diseases. Some evolved there for a very long time, others are more recently evolved alpines.