I’ve been reading up on honeyberry varieties grown in Europe recently. They have new pure Russian varieties that can ripen 1-2 weeks before even the indigo series and are suppose to have quite large berries/decent production unlike the much older and bitter Russian varieties. I was looking over APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) which is the program run by the USDA that determines if plants are safe for importation. They have a manual of plants that can and can’t be imported:
I noticed that honeyberry aka Lonicera caerulea is completely absent from the list of plants that are prohibited from being imported. I have some European contacts, is there any problem importing these plants that I’m unaware of? I’ve tried calling and emailing the listed contact information on the APHIS website and was unable to get ahold of them.
Edit: I want varieties with Russian genetics, I would not be purchasing from Russian sources.
Seems like you are trying to make a lot of work (and cost) for yourself to get a product that is probably going to be inferior to Blizzard & Aurora. I can’t remember where you are located, but a super early bloom is not always a good thing- in fact it’s probably a negative. There are fewer pollinators in the air, and there is greater risk of getting hit with bad weather that ruins the flowers.
You can import honeyberries from Canada pretty easily. Sometimes you can find a plant propagator there that can clone a European cultivar that is not available domestically. You’ll have to order like 500 plants at a time though.
Berries Unlimited has a few mainstream cultivars and many obscure cultivars. They are supposed to be of Russian stock. I have a few of those and they are not yet of fruit bearing size, but the few berries I sampled were pretty good. It’s going to be a lot easier for you to import a plant from Arkansas too.
One time I did a small order from Floramaxx (Canada) and they prepared the export paperwork and phytosanitary certificate to get across the border. I doubt there are any European nurseries that sell honeyberries and also ship to the USA.
If you had a friend in Europe, I’m not sure if it’s possible for them to get the plant you want, get the phytosanitary certificate, and mail it off to you. That might be your only option, if it’s allowed at all.
Just ordered 3 honeyberries, I feel like this crop is very underrated here in the pacific northwest, so I’d love to grow it and maybe sell plants to folks some day!
I think last year that they started showing up at Lowe’s in certain states… and I think its a matter of time before they will be sold mainstream in most all box stores.
Yeah, unfortunately I’ve been looking more into phytosanitary certificates. Unfortunately, I think I’m going to pass. As much as I’d love to get some of those varieties, I don’t want to have my European contact put all that effort into getting these over here. Oh well, hopefully one day they will make it out here.
