Monday 16 March 2009

Mystery plant


Is this a cranberry? It grows at the foot of my drive near the letterbox. I kept noticing a sweet, sugary smell in the air when getting the mail and traced it back to this plant. I had just thought it was ornamental, after all, wouldn't a cranberry be planted somewhere near the blueberries or blackberries? After a minute's hesitation I ate one of the berries. It was very sweet and quite yummy. Unfortunately I'm not familiar with cranberries and actually thought they were rather tart, so I'm still none the wiser (not reeling with a stomach ache or anything though!)

So... does anyone know what it is?

I actually bought a small cranberry seedling at the flower show, it looks kind of similar but has redder stems. And no berries.

Also, on a gardening high after hearing a talk about compost, I assembled a compost bin this afternoon and nearly filled it. Worm farm is next. We still want to get chookies, but buying a chicken run turns out not to be cheap. I had hoped to buy one in kitset form so I could play builder and put it together but that option is $600 - plus chickens, food etc. Making them rather expensive eggs...

4 comments:

  1. I'm going to guess no, since cranberries grow in bogs. Maybe you should take a cutting to a plant nursery and ask.

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  2. What about a choke cherry?

    http://oikostreecrops.com/store/product.asp?P_ID=315&PT_ID=78&strPageHistory=cat

    Cranberries are only grown in bogs so the field can be flooded and berry picked. They can be grown almost anywhere. But I don't think the fruit cluster looks right.

    It's a pretty plant and I bet the birds love it.

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  3. The berries look like the berries of my Chilean Guava. Incredible Edibles sell them. The straggly growth also points into that direction. Makes jummy compott:)

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