Our Gardens at The Leaf are starting to bear a beautiful assortment of fruit! Discover more about the ones growing more in our garden and how you can create your own thriving berry garden in your backyard.

Saskatoon berries (Amelanchier alnifolia)
Saskatoon berries are from a perennial shrub that is native to the Canadian Prairies, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, Alaska, BC, and northern parts of the US. While the plant itself belongs to the rose family like raspberries, the fruit is more closely related to the apple and mountain-ash (sorbus aucuparia). These plants bear fruit when they are around three to five years old and can produce yields at six to eight years if maintained well. While Saskatoons are not well-known outside the Prairies, the demand for them far exceeds the current supply.

Haskap Berry (Lonicera caerulea)
This berry, also known as a honeyberry, is bred in Saskatoon and is an edible blue honeysuckle. They're great in baking, such as in muffins, and are terrific when they’re not fully ripe. They are often the first to ripen in our garden and have a tart, blueberry-like flavour. Don’t mistake it for a blueberry, though; they have a more cylindrical shape and contain three times the antioxidants of a blueberry, making them a superfruit.

Haskap berry in the Outdoor Gardens at The Leaf

Raspberries (Rubus spp.)
This delicious red fruit is an herbaceous perennial that can grow up to one meter tall! They are related to strawberries and belong to the rose family. Raspberries are native to North America and can be found across the Prairies. They are an important food source for Indigenous peoples and early pioneers to Canada. They can be eaten fresh or frozen, and can also be canned for use in jams, juices, and other applications.

Tart cherries (Prunus cerasus)
This type of cherry is more acidic than its related sweet cherry and lasts an average of 17 days on the plant. Tart cherries, also known as sour cherries, are primarily grown in Europe, North Africa, and West Asia, and were documented as far back as 300 BCE. These cherries are used in a variety of cooking dishes, including soups, alcoholic drinks, pork dishes, and desserts. One thing that’s unique about sour cherries is that they are self-fertile and self-pollinating! These types of cherries are in no short supply, as in 2022, global production of them totalled 1.6 million tons.

Tart (sour) cherries in the Outdoor Gardens at The Leaf.

Blackberries (Rubus subg. rubus)
Blackberries are similar to raspberries, as they are also perennial plants that bear canes that help grow the fruit. While raspberries, when plucked, leave their canes behind, raspberries take their cane with them. They are also like raspberries in that they are not a berry by full definition. Blackberries are an aggregate fruit, meaning they are composed of several drupelets. Drupelets are the small flesh parts that wrap around a seed inside. Our blackberries are almost ready in the Kitchen Garden, which aligns with their growing time, as they bloom in late spring to early summer.

Cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon)
A cranberry bush is a low and creeping plant that can grow up to two metres long and up to 20 centimetres tall. They are an evergreen plant with wiry stems and small evergreen leaves. This one is also good to grow in your backyard as a pollinator-friendly plant, as bees help pollinate the fruit! While they are edible, they are acidic; instead, they are a staple in Thanksgiving and holiday dishes in the US and Canada when dried or as a sauce. In 2020, the US, Canada, and Chile produced 97% of the world’s supply.

Unripe cranberries in the Outdoor Gardens at The Leaf.

Here are a few tips from Craig Gillespie, Outdoor Horticultural Supervisor, on growing berries in Manitoba:

• Place your berry plants in a sunny spot, as they require ample sunlight.
• Be mindful of where you put them, as they can get damaged from deer, voles, and rabbits coming to snack.
• In the spring, remove the obtrusive canes from your garden to make space for healthy new ones. There’s no need to cut them down.
• Bees like raspberries, so if you’re looking to have more pollinator-friendly plants in your garden, we recommend having a few around. In turn, they will help your berries grow!