Description
Honeywood came out of Canada, where a fruit shrub has to be genuinely hardy to earn a name, and it is prized for heavy crops of large red berries that are sweet with only a mild tartness behind them.
The bush is compact at 3 to 4 ft, easy to grow and very disease resistant, so it suits a gardener who wants fruit without a spray schedule. The fruit is good enough fresh to eat off the strig and makes excellent preserves.
Overview
- Large, sweet, mildly tart red berries in heavy crops.
- Compact at 3 to 4 ft and easy to grow.
- Very disease resistant.
- Good fresh as well as preserved.
Growing Details
Latin Name: Ribes rubrum ‘Honeywood’
Site and Soil: 1/2 day to full day of sun; rich, moist, well-drained soil
Hardiness: Hardy to USDA Zone 3
Rootstock: Grown from cuttings
Bearing Age: Light crop the year after planting; full crops by the third or fourth year
Size at Maturity: Compact, about 3 to 4 ft tall and wide
Ripening Time: Mid season; July into August
Pollination: Self-fertile; one bush sets a full crop, and a second currant nearby increases berry size
Additional Notes
- Grower’s Insight: Sweet red currants are rarer than they should be. Let this one hang until fully coloured and it eats like a different fruit.
- Regional Insight: Currants are cool-climate fruit, at their best where summers stay moderate and winters are properly cold.
- Explore more berries in our collection: Berries
