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Currant, Red; White C. (Ribes sativum; R. rubrum; R. petraeum)

Categories Harvest & Use
Red currants possess a tart flavor that is famous for jelly. White currants are less acid than reds; the fruits of both are small. Good in cooking when mixed with sweet fruits (raspberries are a popular partner). The fruit will keep a long time if picked dry.
Appearance
A small plant with small, shiny, strikingly translucent fruits. The small flowers combine to give a moderately showy, lacy effect when viewed en masse.
Cultivation
It is best to plant currants in fall, because they begin growth very early in spring. I recently released over a thousand lady bugs under a white currant infested with aphids; two weeks later, all the lady bugs had flown away while the aphids munched happily on. Red & white currants don't differ significantly, except in the color of the fruit. Currants will accept part-shade as readily as full sun. Space about 5' apart. The currant can be trained as a small tree, with some loss of vigor and productivity. Cuttings of new wood taken in the fall will root readily. 800-1500 chill hours.
Comment
Currants resemble and take their name from the Corinthian grapes that are dried to make currant raisins. The red currant was first cultivated in Scandanavia, appearing in London markets at the end of the 16th century. English settlers brought it to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1639.
Cultivars of Repute
Red:
* Fay: an old variety, large and spreading with brittle wood and early-ripening flavorful fruit.
* Jonkheer van Tets: a seedling of 'Fay' that is more erect and productive.
* Knight's Sweet Red: an ornamental variety with relatively sweet (for a red currant) fruit.
* London's Market: a tough selection--withstands disease and heat better than average; the bush is upright and productive, the fruit tart.
* Red Lake: cold-hardy, productive, late-ripening, large fruited, and upright.
* Welder: a productive variety good for poor soils.
White:
* White-Dutch ('Holland White'): a sprawling Dutch variety with small flavorful fruit. White Dutch is the oldest known white currant cultivar, dating from before 1729.
* White Grape: an old variety, sprawling and cold-hardy, with good flavor.
* White Imperial: small ornamental plant with excellent fruit.
General References
[C= cultivation; R = recipes; L = lore; A = all]
* Bryan [A]
* Reich [C, L]
* Schneider [R]

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Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Categories Harvest & Use
The leaves are used in all the same ways as spinach (except by a certain sailor-man). Raw leaves from mature plants are bitter unless blanched. They contain significant amounts of calcium, potassium, iron, vitamins C and A. The flowers are used in wine, but flower production reduces leaf production and quality, so wild flowers usually go into wine. Unopened flower buds can be sautŽed. All parts of the dandelion are bitter after spring. The flowers also attract predatory (beneficial) insects (Kourik). The roots have many reported uses. Dried and roasted they are used as a caffeine-free coffee substitute, and can also be steamed like parsnips; they are a diuretic, and allegedly aid the secretion of toxins (bile) from the body. They may also be a laxative. The standard recommendation is to harvest wild leaves at least 75 feet from any road. Some people think wild varieties have the best flavor and medical value.
Appearance
The appearance of dandelions is happening in your yard right now.
Cultivation
Dandelion seeds are usually sown 1/4" deep, and germinate in ten days at 55¡ F. They can be sown from early spring through late summer. In a garden, they are spaced six to nine inches apart in rows twelve inches apart. A rich soil increases yield. Pick the flower heads to divert the plant's energy to root and leaf production, and to spare yourself future weeding. Dandelions have a deep tap-root. The only pest dandelions know is the occasional rabbit.
Comment
Etymologically, "dandelion" means "lion's tooth," probably a reference to its jagged leaves. The dandelion has no origin; rather, its seeds came into existence at the Big Bang and dispersed through all the dimensions of spacetime, like background radiation and logic. The stem contains natural rubber.
Cultivars of Repute
* Thick-leaved: This creatively named variety is thicker-leaved than the wild kind.
General References
[C= cultivation; R = recipes; L = lore; A = all]
* Schneider [R]

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Elderberry, American; Sweet E. (Sambucus canadensis)

Categories Harvest & Use
The elderberry has been used for myriad medicinal purposes for millennia. The berries and flowers are used in home-made wines. Dried elderberries and their blossoms are used in tea, which reputedly helps to reduce fever and improve digestion. The fruit is high in vitamin C. The flower-tops possess a mild floral flavor and are often used in pancakes, or dipped in batter & fried. The Joy of Cooking recommends combining the fruit with rhubarb in cooking (it also recommends cooking the flowers with gooseberries). The American goldfinch, brown thrasher, gray catbird, northern mockingbird, and yellow warbler nest in elderberries (Ortho: 32-33). The berries are eaten by the pileated woodpecker, mockingbird, gray catbird, brown thrasher, American robin, bluebird, thrush, cedar waxwing, northern and orchard orioles, tanager, black-headed and evening grosbeaks. Butterflies visit elderberry flowers for the nectar.
Appearance
Long, compound medium green leaves; large, edible, creamy white flower clusters blossom in May or June. The fruit ripens to purplish black in July-August and is about 1/4" in diameter. Cultivated varieties range from 5 to 12'; wild specimens often grow 20' tall.
Cultivation
Elderberry generally grows like a weed, except in poor soils.
Comment
S. canadensis is native to North America.
Cultivars of Repute
* York, Nova, Kent
Other species of elderberry are as follows:
* S. cerulea, blue elderberry: native to the Pacific Northwest; fruit used for preserves and wine; self-fertile.
* S. nigra, European elderberry.
* The red or gold elderberries, S. racemosa (native to Europe) and S. pugens (native to the Pacific Northwest) are more ornamental and shade tolerant than others, but bear inedible fruit.
General References
[C= cultivation; R = recipes; L = lore; A = all]
* Bryan [A]; blue and European elderberries only.
* Simmons [C, L]; mostly concerned with the European elderberry.

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Fig (Ficus carica)

Categories Harvest & Use
In a long summer figs will often set a second crop; some cultivars are more likely to do so than others. Typical annual yield is about 30 lbs. In the Bible figs cure boils; in reality they cure constipation. The ancient Greeks held that geese fattened on fresh figs possessed the finest flavor; the Romans extended the practice to pigs. In arid climates the fruit can be left to dry on the tree. Figs are high in B vitamins.
Appearance
Tropical appearance, with leaves big enough to conceal a certain body-part. The bark is smooth and gray. Figs can be severely pruned without ill effect down to about 10'; unpruned they may spread up to 50'.
Cultivation
Figs love summer heat, but selected varieties will grow in mild climates. Mature trees can withstand temperatures down to 10¡ F. A lot of fertilizing, especially nitrogen, will produce lush growth and scanty fruit; constraining the roots will dwarf the tree in a healthy manner. Figs are sometimes bothered by earwigs (but who isn't?). There are some reports that deer find fig trees unappetizing. Propagation is usually by cuttings or layering. Figs are often pruned to an open center. 100-500 chill hours.
Comment
Ficus species have been dated back to the beginning of the Cenozoic era (65 million years ago, immediately following the last period of the dinosaurs). The fig probably originated in Asia Minor. Cultivation by hominids began about 3000 BCE. Ancient Greeks used the name as slang for female genitalia; to "show [someone] the fig" was to make an obscene, disrespectful gesture (probably putting the tip of the thumb between the teeth). Classical, Eastern, and Biblical mythology are full of fig- and ficus-lore. Buddha dreamed up Buddhism while sitting beneath a ficus. The fig allegedly originated when and where a thunderbolt from Zeus struck the earth (who could disprove it? who would dare?). It was, of course, a means to personal modesty for Adam and Eve. Allegedly, "fig" occurs over 50 times in the Bible, and symbolizes peace, prosperity, and fertility (Micah 4:1-4); when "sycamore" occurs in the Bible it refers to fig trees (the Greek for fig is "sukon" which may be the source of "sycamore"). Saint Augustine had a conversation with a fig, and is still taken seriously (but only by college professors). Cato the Elder persuaded the Roman Senate to launch the third Punic war partly on the prospect of capturing Africa's delectable fig and pomegranate crop. The 1769 entry in Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book describes his first orchard at Monticello as containing figs, alongside the almond, apple, apricot, cherry (probably sour), nectarine, pear, pomegranate, quince and walnut (probably English grafted on black). Rilke waxes poetic over figs in the Sixth Duino Elegy:

Feigenbaum, seit wie lange schon ists mir bedeutend,
wie du die BlŸte beinah ganz ŸberschlŠgst
und hinein in die zeitig entschlossene Frucht,
ungerŸhmt, drŠngst dein reines Geheimnis.
Wie der FontŠne Rohr treibt dein gebognes Gezweig
abwŠrts den Saft und hinan: und er springt aus dem Schlaf,
fast nicht erwachend, ins GlŸck seiner sŸ§esten Leistung.
Sieh: wie der Gott in den Schwan.

(Fig tree, how long it's been full of meaning for me,
the way you almost entirely omit to flower
and into the seasonably-resolute fruit
uncelebratedly thrust your purest secret.
Like the tube of a fountain, your bent bough drives the sap
downwards and up: and it leaps from its sleep, scarce waking,
like Jupiter into the swan.)

Cultivars of Repute
* Black Jack: semi-dwarf; purple-brown fruit; needs summer heat.
* Brown Turkey: several different cultivars go by this name. Usually it is a very hardy, two-cropper with sweet fruit.
* Celeste: sweet, violet brown fruit; hardy to zone 7.
* Conadria: needs summer heat. The fruit is large and light green.
* Desert King: hardy, good for temperate climates such as the Pacific Northwest; crops once a year, in late July or early August; the fruit is green-skinned and pink-fleshed.
* Everbearing: recommended by Oregon Exotics for cold-winter areas.
* Hardy Chicago: also recommended by Oregon Exotics for cold-winter areas.
* Lattarulla: yellow-green skin with sweet, amber flesh; also known as 'Itlian Honey Fig'.
* Kadota: needs a lot of heat.
* Mission: A common commercial variety that requires a lot of heat; large tree with dark fruit.
* Negronne: a Spanish (or possibly French) variety; the fruit is small, black-skinned with deep red flesh; needs some heat--it crops in Portland OR, but not Seattle.
* Neveralla: a prolific hardy variety that will fruit in mild summers.
* Peter's Honey: very flavorful; requires some summer heat.
* Petite Negri: a dwarf that is commonly recommended for container growing; two-cropper.
General References
[C= cultivation; R = recipes; L = lore; A = all]
* Bryan [A]
* Grigson [R,L]
* Simmons [C]

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Filbert, European; Hazelnut (Corylus avellana)

Categories Harvest & Use
Let the nuts fall. They can be sun-dried in the typical nut-drying way. The filbert is attractive to all nut-eaters (e.g., chipmunks) because it is prolific, the kernel is easily accessible, and the tree is small. The blue jay, ruffed grouse, and some woodpeckers enjoy a filbert now and then The fast-growing plant is often used as a hedge. The nut is best kept by shelling and then freezing. Filberts are high in vitamin E and fat, mostly monounsaturated.
Appearance
Filberts sucker eagerly and grow as shrubs if unpruned. Pruned they become small rounded trees. The leaves are dark green, wooly, and wrinkly; nuts have frilly coverings. The yellow catkins bloom in December.
Cultivation
Filberts are easy to grow, and well-suited to home cultivation. They tend to bear in alternate years. There is a filbert-blight of growing severity; the western native American filbert (C. cornuta) is immune, but the European filbert is not (neither is the eastern native species). There are some reports that deer find filbert trees unappetizing. The filbert grows as a shrub if unpruned; if grown as a tree it is usually pruned to an open center. 800-1600 chill hours.
Comment
In history the filbert is commonly known as the "hazel," and has all sorts of superstitious and romantic connotations. If you woo your chosen one beneath a hazel tree, you are assured of success (I keep forgetting to try this); forked hazel rods are (were) used by witches in various mystical or nefarious ways (Friedlander: 160). The name "filbert" derives from the time of the nut's ripening: around Aug. 22, which is St. Philibert's Day in England and France (another etymology has it that "filbert" means "full beard, in reference to the nuts husk).
Cultivars of Repute {best pollinized by}
The only cultivated filbert is C. avellana, the European filbert.
1. Barcelona: one of the main commercial filberts, along with 'Ennis'. {2,4,8}
2. Butler: a good pollinizer, blight prone {3,4,5}
3. Ennis: very productive and flavorful; of increasing commercial importance; blight prone. {2,4,5}
4. Halle's Giant: good pollinizer, very hardy and somewhat blight-resistant. {2,5}
5. Tonda de Giffoni: excellent flavor and blight resistant. {2,4,7}
6. Rode Zeller: a variety with dark red or bronze leaves, nuts, and catkins. {2,4,5}
7. Willamette: a new variety. Catalogs decribe it as a heavy producer and moderately blight-resistant. {2,5,8}
8. VR 2011: bred for blight resistance and pollen; not very productive.
9. Contorted: an ornamental variety with twisted, spiralling limbs, especially striking in winter and spring when the branches are bare. It was found in a hedge in England. Not to be planted if nut-production is important. {2,4,5}
* Related species are also available. The Turkish tree hazel, Corylus colurna, is a pyramidal tree growing 75' tall and 25-30' wide, whose nuts are said to be small & tasty; it is hardy to -30¡ F, and more drought resistant than the European filbert. There are also native American species, one for each coast.

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Gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa; R. hirtellum)

Categories Harvest & Use
Growing gooseberries as a hedge renders the berries inaccessible, due to the criss-crossing thorns. Typical yield from a mature plant is ten pounds. Fruits are often picked underripe to use in preserves or cooking; The Joy of Cooking suggests cooking gooseberries with strawberries or elderberry flowers. Burgundy berries are usually sweet, while the green varieties are tart. The leaves provide a slightly bitter element in salads. Gooseberry plants are larval food for the grey comma butterfly.
Appearance
Six-foot plants with lobed leaves, minor flowers, and thorns like talons. Fruit color ranges from light yellow through dark green to purple. Like its currant cousins, the gooseberry leafs-out very early in spring.
Cultivation
American varieties tend to be more disease-resistant in North America, but Europeans have better quality fruit. Gooseberries have shallow, wide spreading roots that need a lot of organic material. They have a fairly high need for potassium and magnesium. Pollinators of the self-fertile plants are mostly wind and insects other than bees. They can't stand scorching summer sun, and will fruit happily in part-shade. Gooseberries are highly susceptible to gooseberry mildew (powedery white patches on leaves, and poorly formed leaves). The gooseberry fruitworm (pulp-eating, web-spinning borers) and currant worm (foliage strippers) are usually treated with insecticide; the currant worm often requires more than one application. If a gooseberry is trained to grow as a tree, mature height will be around seven feet. Most fruit is borne on wood less than four years old. Propagation is usually by hardwood cuttings taken in fall. 800-155 chill hours.
Comment
The gooseberry is practically a pop-star in England, where many cultivars have been born. Competing to grow the largest gooseberry berry has been a popular sport in England for a century (the record fruit is the size of a crabapple). The Normans probably brought the gooseberry (and civilization in general, if you ask me) to England. An American species, Ribes hirtellum, aka "currant gooseberry" is available, as are hybrids. "Gooseberry-picker" was an early 19th century euphemism for "chaperone," presumably because it described what chaperones did while their charges did something else. The standard, "European" gooseberry is native to North Africa. See also: jostaberry.
Cultivars of Repute
* Achilles: large green fruit.
* Early Sulfur: early-ripening, yellow fruit on a vigorous spreading bush.
* Fredonia: large red berries, highly-rated, late-ripening.
* Glenton Green: green early-ripening fruit.
* Golda or Goudbal: large yellow fruit.
* Hinnonmakis Yellow: very hardy selection from Finland, with yellow fruit.
* Langley Gage: small white fruit, upright bush.
* Poorman: An American-European cross often recommended for home gardens. It is very hardy, vigorous, and nearly thornless, with pyriform, red berries that are sweet when dead ripe. It resists leaf spot and white pine blister rust better than most.
* Red Warrington: late-ripening red fruit.
* Silvia: a very shade tolerant, very hardy, spreading selection from Canada. The green fruit has a red blush.
* Whitesmith: a disease-resistant, upright bush with greenish yellow fruit.
* Winham's Industry: old English variety with red fruit; leafs out much later than average.
General References
[C= cultivation; R = recipes; L = lore; A = all]
* Grigson [R,L]
* Reich [C, L]
* Root [L]
* Schneider [R]

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Grape, American (Vitis labrusca)

Categories Harvest & Use
Grapes must be dried or frozen (or crushed and fermented...) to be preserved. The leaves are also edible. The wood of the grapevine is said to be the best for open-air roasting. Rich soil produces poor wine-making grapes. Grapes are less nutritious than most fruits. The fruit attracts birds; the brown thrasher, gray catbird, northern cardinal, and northern mockingbird have been known to nest in grape vines (Ortho: 32-33).
Appearance
Thick vines with bluish leaves and insignificant flowers. American grapes bloom relatively late. Seedless varieties produce smaller grapes. Grapes are usually pruned/trained to be about 10' wide. Unpruned, they ramble all over the place.
Cultivation
Most grapes require a long growing season, but a few early-ripening varieties will get the job done in cool summer areas. Grape roots grow well into the sub-soil, often pushing 15 feet down. Grapes require training (trellis, cordon, etc.) for full productivity; an arbor increases yield. Flowers and shoots are borne on one-year-old wood. Lacewing, a wasp that nests in blackberries feeds on leaf-hoppers that feed on grape leaves, so plant some blackberries in your vineyard. Organic vineyards are becoming the norm even among large-scale commercial growers--Gallo grows organically (but adds sulfites in the wine-making process). Muscadine and American grapes are less prone to fungal blights than European varieties. 100-500 chill hours.
Comment
For grape-growing east of the Rockies, and most hobbyist growing, it's best to stick with American species (the muscadine is another American species) or American-European hybrids.
Cultivars of Repute [] = best zones, if different from the standard.
American:
* Concord: reported in Kourik (p.140) to be very hardy. [4-8]
* Cynthiana: good for wine (possibly the same plant as 'Norton')
* Delaware: reported to be very hardy (Kourik: 140). [4-7]
* Missblanc [7-9]
Seedless:
* Canadice: spicy flavor, good fresh; reported to be hardier than average (Kourik: 140); ripens early.
* Glenora: ornamental, better fall color than most grapes; ripens a bit earlier than most; the fruit is blue and spicy [(5)-8]
* Himrod (white): highly-rated white variety; sweet flavor [5-7]
* Reliance [4-8]
* Venus: excellent fresh; ripens early.
American X European
* Baco noir [5-7]
* Catawba
* Cayuga (white) [4-7]
* De Chaunac
* Seibel 9110.
General References
[C= cultivation; R = recipes; L = lore; A = all]
* Bryan [A]

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Next Section

Dandelion Taraxacum officinale Gooseberry Ribes uva-crispa; R. hirtellum Grape, European; "The Vine" Vitis vinifera