Some of the best fruiting varieties have been wild-selected ones.
I don’t know of anyone breeding to imporove Highbush Cranberry for fruit,(*although some are working on breeding smaller and prettier ones for landscape purposes).
i seen somewhere that was selling and improved fruiting cultivar but dont remember where. they take so long to fruit i didnt pay much attention.
It’s a good point. The European species is fairly widely naturalized in the United States. Along with the characteristics you point out, V. opulus is also much more bitter than trilobum - to the point of being, in my opinion inedible (not that trilobum is all that good to eat, but they do make a reasonable jelly or marmalade with enough sugar).
Actually, most botanical gardens and ‘experts’ now consider viburnum trlobum to be viburnum opulus (americanum)…a subspecies of the European snowball viburnum.
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I was down in Kenai and stopped at that cranberry bush (edule). It was not good at all- in fact it was so gross I spit it out. Maybe it needed a frost to sweeten it up.
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At least it looks attractive.
at least the ones here need frost to make them palatable. even then they arent edible from the bush. they have almost a metallic taste. ate a bowlful of ligon
berries yesterday. they are tart but good from the bush. unfortunitly they arent very productive for me so far.
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I have the Phillips cultivar of viburnum trilobum…but they came bare rooted last spring out of 4 inch pots. So, no fruits, but I’ll be looking for some good fall color as they’re filling a one gallon pot pretty much.
this class of plants take a long time to fruit. maybe quicker down your way as you have a longer growing season. takes about 6 yrs. here from a seedling.
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There are a number of berries and fruits I could not care less to eat fresh but that I love processed. Heck sour cherries are like that; I like eating a few but in jams and juice they are awesome. White currants, pleasant enough but the jam is on a whole new level, specially on candied jalapenos.
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I’ve eaten fruit 24 MONTHS from planting>>>>but started out a second year bare_rooted plant.
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That’s like asparagus or grapes, you can get 1, 2 or 3 year bareroots and it shows.
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If a person eats cranberries, I don’t see a problem eating
Am. Highbush cranberry.
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I was at the Alaska zoo and there were many of those cranberry bushes along the trails. It’s been chilly and the berries were actually edible (almost enough that you would want to pick a second berry). I think they will keep getting better and better.
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Having some (fair) success rooting dormant cuttings…outdoors in shade.
The Phillips has reddish young shoots.
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Funny enough I’m finding a bunch of the Squashberry/cranberry/Viburnum edule plants that were already in my property. It is trivial to make a proper ID when the fruits have that single squashed seed in them.
It is just about May and there are fruits on the bushes still hanging from last year that are still edible. I know it has been colder here than in other places but the fruits are still plump and juicy. Does anybody want some seeds? These guys would produce more on sun but they are extremely tolerant of under canopy shade.
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i have 5 of them growing in a thicket of choke and pin cherry. many are still hanging here but are cranberry rasins now. once the grackles come around they clean them up before leaf out.
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Here our highs have been in the 40’s at best so they just began to loose juice. I just came back from collecting (and eating) for seed. They have a very nice acid snap to them, probably the reason why they don’t spoil.
In the under bush they are runty and viney, I want to put a few on pots from seed to see how they express themselves when given prime real estate.
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Do they taste like low bush types?
the ones i see growing in full sun on the sides of the roads become 10 x 15’ thickets. there are tons of them wild here. i cant get past the smell of them when processed. made jams with them and no one liked it. might not have the same ones you guys do. if improved cultivars didnt take so long to grow id put one in the yard to sample. i have a wet spot that would be perfect. grouse are all over them once frost hits the berries. deer and moose also.
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