September Fruit

On September 3rd. 2009 I made an amazing discovery in the Honeysuckle orchard. Beautiful plump, great tasting berries! The July pickers had missed some berries hidden deep in the three year old Berry Blue bushes. The berries remained in tact and attached to the branches waiting to be picked until September. Is there any other fruit that ripens in June and can still be picked in September? None that I know about. Blue Honeysuckle is a most amazing fruit.

Fruit Sets

Fruit sets have been on some of our Russian blue honeysuckles for a week and a half. In spite of the cold weather (nights near freezing and highs below 10C) the berries continue to develop.

Tracking The Growth Of Blue Honeysuckle In Spring

On March 25th, 2009, I took a cutting from this Russian blue honeysuckle that was planted as a single sprig in April of 2007. It bore fruit in June of 2008. Our weather at the time was hovering around minus 10 C (15 F) for a high, although it had reached freezing a couple of days before that and rained. However, snow still lay heavily on the ground. The plant showed no external signs of growth. My climate zone borders on 1b - 2a.

Upon removing the outer, paper-like bark here is what I discovered.

And a dissection of the stem. The pith was already moist and seeped water.