A few days before Christmas, the mailbox yields a couple last minute greeting cards and the property tax bill folded inside the spring Jung Seed catalog. In the days after Christmas after the gifts are put away and the tax check is written, it is nice to sit down to peruse the catalog and begin dreaming of next year’s garden.
I got as far as page 12 in this year’s catalog when I realized that there are a lot of fruits we can grow here in Wisconsin besides the usual apples, pears, grapes, strawberries and raspberries.
The first one that caught my eye was the ‘Eastern Prince’ Magnolia Vine. These 10-12 foot vines are important food crops in China and Russia. The vines bear small, fragrant magnolia-like flowers followed by clusters of berries high in vitamin C and a compound called shizandrin, which supports liver health. The berries are tart and are used for juice and preserves, while the leaves, shoots are roots make a healthful tea. ‘Eastern Prince’ grows in sun or part shade and begins bearing fruit at about its third year.
Cornelian cherries are actually dogwoods. They bloom with graceful yellow flowers in spring followed by sweet-tart juicy red fruits and then scarlet fall color. The high vitamin C fruits are used fresh or in baked goods, preserves, juice or wine. They ripen in late August beginning 2–3 years after planting. Jung offers three different Cornelian cherry varieties; planting two different varieties insures a larger crop. They can be grown as shrubs or as small 12–15 foot trees.
Nero aronia is a 3-4 foot shrub with blue-black blueberry-sized fruits, also high in vitamin C. In spring, the shrub is covered with large clusters of snowy white flowers. The fruits ripen in fall and are used for juice, jam and wine.
The berries of mountain ashes are usually eaten by desperate birds in late winter. However, there is a mountain ash cultivar with fruits suitable for human consumption. Rabina mountain ash has good tasting fruit with a sweet-tart flavor. The fruits are high in vitamin A and, you guessed it, vitamin C. The berries are good for eating fresh and in juice, preserves, pastry and wine. The trees grow to about 20 feet tall and have attractive foliage that turns red-orange in the fall.
Russian quince ‘Aromatnaya’ is yet another fruit high in vitamin C. This is a lovely tree that grows 10–15 feet tall. In late spring it displays beautiful cup-shaped white flowers that are followed by large fragrant rounded fruits. The waxy yellow fruits are tender and taste mildly like pineapple. They can be eaten fresh or used for jams, jellies, baked goods, flavoring and canning.
Have you noticed a theme here? All these unusual fruits are high in vitamin C. Just because we can’t grow oranges and grapefruits in Wisconsin doesn’t mean that our vitamin C has to come from the grocery store!
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