Sunday, April 19, 2009

Juneberry North Fife


We bought this Juneberry two years go and this year it has blossomed, if each flower sets then that will be fantastic, the start of a very nutritious fruit. This area of north fife was noted for soft fruits, black current, red current, raspberries, tay . berries, strawberries but now due to labour costs in the picking farmers have uprooted and prefer to exploit C.A.P. for it's subsidies thus divesting us of local choice and dumbing down available diet. there is a grass roots reaction to this of which we are part where gardeners and smallholders produce organically animals, vegetables and fruits for local benefit.
Amelanchier lamarckii - June Berry.
Delicate, star-shaped, white flowers in March to April and bronze leaves maturing to dark green and then orange and red in autumn. The white flowers of the turn to green fruits. These slowly turn pink then bright red in June & continue ripening to purple-black by mid summer. Noted for its beautiful autumn leaf colour, this upright-stemmed shrub which can be grown into a tree is an ideal specimen plant for a shrub or mixed border in full sun or part-shade. After leaf-fall, the upright branches continue to provide winter appeal. The bark is smooth in the shrub's youth, silvery grey with darker stripes. As it ages, the bark splits into craggy furrows with increasing character.

A closer look, the blossom is quite delicate but abundant.

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