What's the verdict on Honeyberries...are they tasty?

I dont think the first honeyberries available compare with current popular varieties. The only old variety im still growing in honeybee and I think I have a tundra in a pot still, but I have removed most of them also. The newer varieties are quite a bit better IMO.

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blueberries grow great here but i still prefer the taste of honeyberries. since trying honeyberries i find blueberries taste pretty bland. ill probably mix the 2 in a pie. :wink:

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i agree! and only going to get better with the interest in them.

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I think so too. I do agree not the best for fresh eating, but I grow enough other fruits to fill the fresh eating niche. I’m into syrups mostly to enjoy with adult beverages. Well also water. I still have 4 or 5 gallons of various berries. The supply lasts all winter and into spring.
Boreal Blizzard from the U of Sas. website

One of many Honeyberry flips I have made

Aurora

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I keep forgetting which ones i have, need to make a list I reckon.
Indigo Gem and Boreal Blizzard I think, and maybe Tundra.
Sold the plants I had of blue moon and Blue Velvet.

And Beauty & Beast are on order as I recollect from Jung’s.

i also have beauty and beast coming from honeyberryusa.com. hopefully my honeybee and younger aurora fruits some this summer. my indigo gem/ treat have been very sparse producers for me so im going to really put the fertilizer to them this spring.

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I’ll reiterate my question from earlier: Chonas

1d

Has anyone grafted honeyberry scions onto winter honeysuckle? We have an overabundance of those (almost as many as callery pears) in zone 7b.

If not and someone has some honeyberry scions to donate I can do it.

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if you want to give it a try i can send you some indigo gem/ treat cuttings in apr. once the snow goes down some and i can get to them…

Any plants whose leaves hang on longer than normal in the summer I guess would be good candidates.

I just ordered Boreal Beast, Boreal Beauty, Boreal Blizzard and Maxine to attempt to grow as a north facing foundation planting at my house in zone 7b Maryland.

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Good luck…unless you have a brown thumb, it should be a good decision.

those 2 look like crap after july but hang on until fall.

When both fresh, I slightly prefer blueberries. Both cooked, I greatly prefer honeyberries.

Blueberries have a better texture and are easier to deal with raw.

I haven’t tried the honeyberries released in the last few years. Only 8-10 overall. My first introduction was some jam samples, maybe from Dr. Maxine Thompson at a Home Orchard Society event. I was hooked!

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im curious how they will do. i dont have anything on the north side of the house because i assumed they wouldnt produce fruit there but im also in a much colder zone than you. please post on their progress.

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Favorite new variety? To what temp do they normally hold their leaves?

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Mine are all there, except the ones in my daughter\s garden, they get almost full sun. Mine on the north. In the last photo I posted with fruit on the bush, the camera is pointing south. The plants are 5 feet from a 2 story house (top of house is about 40 feet up). They only get late afternoon sun in 5b/6a and it’s just about perfect. The leaves on some do not hold up all year. So I’m not sure it is just too much sun, more likely the plants have high susceptibility to leaf fungi. Again not sure sun exposure matters? I should spray them early when I’m doing my trees. I will this year.

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I have been wondering about a north facing planting along my house. We have wild ginger, foam flower, and a few others shade loving plants over there but I was wondering what fruiting shrubs would tolerate that area out of haskap, currant, aronia, serviceberry, and Gooseberry. I figured my best bet would be aronia and haskaps.

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The honeyberries/haskaps will get a bit ugly or even look like they are dead by Labor Day.
Then, as it cools and the days get shorter, they put on a new flush of growth. That’s here in zone 6b. I’ve not done a full study, as to whether there might be some varieties that hold up better…but I think Blue Moon and Blue Velvet stood up better than say Indigo Gem.

It’s apparently the heat, as being in full shade vs full sun seems not to affect anything.
I also do not believe it’s fungal related.

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What else works on north side o house? Currants and Cranberrybush viburnum.
I’ve not tried aronia. Serviceberry works on N side of house in zones 6, 7 and 8…I don’t know about zone 4.

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The issue with serviceberries in zone 7 to my knowledge is the prevalence of cedar rust fungi.

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Good answer. Up in the mountains, not so much, but where the junipers (cedars) are common, definitely a problem with getting good fruit. (Although the tree will be happy in the shade).