Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden

by Reich, Lee

• ISBN13: 9780881926231
• ISBN10: 088192623X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-05-21
• Publisher: Timber Pr

Summary

Lee Reich provides a valuable guide to uncommon fruits and berries, which add an adventurous flavor to any garden. Though names like jujube, juneberry, maypop, and shipova may seem exotic at first glance, these fruits offer ample rewards to the gardener willing to go only slightly off the beaten path at local nurseries. Reliable even in the toughest garden situations, cold-hardy, and pest- and disease-resistant, they are as enticing to the beginner as to the advanced gardener. This expanded sequel to the author's celebrated Uncommon Fruits Worthy of Attention offers new fruits, new varieties, and new photos and illustrations to entice the reader into an exciting world of garden pleasure.

Author Biography

Lee Reich, Ph.D., is an avid gardener who, after more than a decade in agricultural research with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Cornell University, turned to writing, lecturing, and consulting. He is a frequent speaker at many gardening events, including garden symposia and clubs, grower conferences, and Master Gardener training workshops

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 7
Acknowledgments	p. 9
Juneberry: A Cosmopolitan Blue Berry	p. 11
Beach Plum: A Tasty Fruit Not Just for the Beach	p. 21
Alpine and Musk Strawberries: Diminutive Delectables	p. 30
Pawpaw: Banana of the North	p. 41
Raisin Tree: Candied Fruit for the Picking	p. 53
Lingonberry: Dainty Looks, Sturdy Disposition, and Tasty Berries	p. 57
Actinidia: Emeralds in the Rough	p. 68
Mulberry: A Summer Fruit-of-Many-Colors	p. 87
Kaki and American Persimmons: Fruits of the Gods	p. 97
Elaeagnus: Gumi, Autumn Olive, and Russian Olive	p. 114
Gooseberry: Fruit with a Checkered Past	p. 121
Maypop: A Passionflower for the North	p. 137
Che: Chewy Dollops of Maroon Sweetness	p. 145
Black Currant: Fruit from Fragrant Bushes	p. 151
Nanking Cherry: Cherries on a Bush	p. 162
Cornelian Cherry: From the Shores of Ancient Greece	p. 169
Currants, Red and White: Sprightly, Translucent Jewels	p. 178
Asian Pear: The Crunch Pear	p. 187
Jostaberry: The Gooseberry and Black Currant Hybrid	p. 197
Lowbush Blueberry: More American Than Apple Pie	p. 201
Jujube: The Chinese Date	p. 211
Shipova: A Sweetie with a Blush	p. 219
Medlar: Lost in the Middle Ages	p. 225
Epilogue	p. 233
Nomenclature	p. 235
Pollination	p. 237
Siting and Planting	p. 239
Pruning	p. 246
Propagation	p. 252
Mail-Order Sources for Plants or Seeds	p. 261
Index	p. 273
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

It is said that if you order strawberries in a deluxe Parisian restuarant, those strawberries will be very small and very expensive (but of course!), but also very delicious. Such fruits are not scaled-down or poorly grown versions of common, cultivated strawberries, but different species of near wild strawberries: the alpine strawberry or the musk strawberry.Alpine and musk strawberry fruits are expensive not because they are hard to grow, but because the plants are not very productive. This should not preclude growing them in the backyard garden, where flavor is as important as productivity. Fruits of the alpine strawberry have an intense, wild strawberry flavor. The flavor of the musk strawberry tastes like a mixture of strawberry, raspberry, and pineapple. Delicious!For centuries, Europeans planted both species in gardens and harvested them from the wild. Cultivation of alpine and musk strawberries abated two and a half centuries ago with the development of the "modern" strawberry, which is a large-fruited and prolific hybrid of two American species.

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Excerpted from Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden by Lee Reich
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