Whether you want to grow your own fruit to save money, for the delicious homegrown taste or to enjoy the health benefits, Albertans can grow so many hardy fruits beyond raspberries and strawberries.
When choosing varieties to add to your landscape, first consider how much space the plant will require as it grows. For the best production, most fruits require a sunny location and fertile, well-drained soil.
Apple trees are the most popular of Alberta fruits, offering abundant harvests. The choices at Greenland Garden Centre are vast, including early, mid-season and late September varieties such as Goodland, Odyssey and Hardi Mac. Many selections are crisp, full of flavour and can also be used for cooking. For smaller spaces look for “dwarf” varieties.
Saskatoons are native to our province and can easily be grown at home. Common types such as Smokey, Thiessen and Northline are extremely hardy, producing plump delicious berries in late July.
Honeyberry (Haskap) look like elongated blueberries and are the earliest producer of all Alberta fruits. For best production, plant two varieties for cross pollination. Newer choices such as Aurora, Boreal Beauty and Honeybee yield fruit that are loaded with antioxidants.
Cherries on the prairies are quite different than BC cherries, they are smaller and not quite as sweet. Although they are referred to as “sour cherries”, they are full of flavour and enjoyable to eat off the tree mid-summer. The most popular varieties include the Romance Series – Romeo, Juliette and Cupid. These are very hardy and are available as a shrub or tree form.
Hardy Kiwi is a climbing perennial vine that produces small, edible fruit. The Arctic variety has showy variegated foliage and requires a female and male plant for production.
Grapes are another hardy vine that produce masses of tasty fruit as they mature. Valiant, Morden
Concord and Morden Concord White are all popular varieties. Provide vines with a very sunny location and well drained soil.
Greenland Garden Centre offers a wonderful selection of fruits that can be planted all summer long. Our staff are always happy to help select the best varieties for you and offer advice for planting success.
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