A small shade tolerant shrub, native to Siberia and Japan. The honeyberry bush produces an elongated blueberry-like fruit a month or more before the earliest blueberries. Honeyberry fruits are sweet enough to enjoy fresh, with tiny edible seeds, and can be used in cooking as with blueberries. Honeyberries are produced in easy to harvest clusters. Some varieties, such as Blue Bird and Blue Belle are from the far North and can bloom too early in milder winter areas or regions subject to warm spells in the spring. Blue Sea, Blue Pagoda are later blooming varieties that are more likely to be flowering when pollinating insects are active and are equally winter hardy to Blue Sky and Blue Bird. Plant two different varieties for fruit production. Hardy to -40° F when fully dormant.
Plant availability by Season
Fall
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Late blooming variety, big sweet fruit with a firm texture and good flavor. From Northern Japan where it is known as Chitose No. 11. Mature height is around 4-5 feet. Blue Pagoda™ Honeyberry pollinates with Blue Velvet, Kamchatka, Blue Moon, Blue Sea, or Blue Pacific. Zone 3-8.
A late blooming selection that pollinates with Blue Pagoda, Blue Velvet, Blue Moon, Blue Pacific and Kamchatka. Blue Sea™ Honeyberry is an unusually large, sweet and flavorful variety from Northern Japan. Zone 3-8.
Fragrant flowers bloom late, yet fruit early ripens early with high yields of large, elongated blue fruits. Borealis honeyberry pollinates with Tundra.
Productive of elongated dark blue fruit. Best suited to continental climate zones not subject to early springs. Vigorous bush, large productive and sweet. Berry Blue™ Honeyberry pollinates with Blue Belle, Blue Sky, and Blue Bird. Zone 2-7.
