Look what came in the mail! I got the two broken citrus trees replaced and he also surprised me with an extra one, a Blood Orange! The Green Finger Lime had two tiny fruits on it, but sadly they shriveled and fell, maybe from the cold during transportation? Good to know it’s already producing though. Anyway, cannot wait to put them in their new planters and settle in their new home.
This attractive, low-growing evergreen shrub is probably familiar to most people from northern Europe, where it is known by a large number of common names, but if not the plant itself, many will certainly recognise the small, glossy red fruit, the tart and refreshing lingonberry or cowberry.
Native to much of the Northern Emisphere, this evergreen species is extremely hardy and grows well in the partially shaded understory of taller plants on moist, acidic soil, where it spreads laterally through underground stems.
Here pictured is the cultivar ‘Fireballs’, which flowers and fruits earlier in the summer, bearing a generous amount of larger, persistent berries. I have two small plants at my allotment and I’ve been collecting and freezing a handful of berries most weeks for a few months now, but they don’t seem to be done fruiting yet, so the crop season has proven to be longer than I expected.
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