Anyone have suggestions for smaller fruit or berry plants that can take shade (shrub, dwarf, or semi dwarf)? There are two slots in my orchard that only receive late afternoon sun in the summer that I am hoping to fill. During the day they are shaded by some tall cedars.
My current thought is currents.
Thank you in advance.
I have black currants that receive about 4-5 hours of sun and don’t seem to mind.
I’ve got a northern high bush blueberry that does well in shade. It gets 1 or 2 hours part of the year and in August and September gets no full sun, only some dappled sun. This year it gave me 5+ lbs of very good tasting blueberries. I’m sure it would produce much more in the sun but 5 lbs is nice, The bad news is I don’t know the variety. Harvested medium to large berries from July 12th to July 21st. The shrub grows to 7ft. I think it came from Walmart so I must be a common variety. When I planted that one I planted some other varieties in the same area and they do very poorly so it’s the variety that accepts the shade.
If I had to guess I would say it’s Bluecrop. I should buy a Bluecrop and plant it in the same area to see if it’s the same.
I rooted a cutting that is growing very slowly in its second year. Next year I’ll do air layering of vigorous shoots. I’d be happy to get more of these growing in my shady areas.
These are plants I grow in shade with only few hrs of afternoon sun - currant, raspberries, blueberries and haskap. All are prospering well except haskap which doesn’t like the hot summers.
currants and gooseberries.
although I enjoy both raw, a lot of folks do not. They have sort of weird flower-remnants so each berry has some fiberous gunk on it’s read end, and they tend to be pretty tart. But if you can make wine, jam, jelly, etc., they are some of the best-flavored berry fruits out there, especially black currant. They just benefit, a lot, from heat and a food mill or strainer.
other possibles:
smaller serviceberries, aronia
strawberries
raspberries and blackberries
the latter will probably fruit less than in sun…but more than if never planted at all.
Thank you everyone. High bush blueberry or currant are my likely choices. I’d like to have a gooseberry but from what I’ve heard/read they don’t have as high of a tolerance to low lighting conditions.
I’ve also heard that pears can tolerate a decent amount of shade but I don’t know if that is true. I like the idea of adding a pear but for the aesthetic symmetry of the orchard I might opt for two bush type berries.
Gooseberries and blk raspberries, especially blk raspberries!!
Evergreen Huckleberry is suppose to grow more in the shade,but fruits better in sunlight.Brady
It depends on how far south you are for gooseberries and currants. 7a (VA) is hot enough that I need to get some shade on mine.
I don’t know that I have ever had a Huckleberry. I thought they were more astringent.
I think my microclimate is a 7a. Especially with the growing trend toward warmer temperatures.