Symphoricarpos albus 'Snowberry'

Caprifoliaceae: an erect, deciduous shrub to 1-2m, which spreads from suckers from its rhizome. Found in shady and moist mountain and forest habitat, in woodlands and on floodplains and riverbanks. The inflorescence is a raceme of up to 16 flowers. Each flower is bell-shaped, rounded about 0.5cm long and bright pink in colour. The fruit is a fleshy white berry-like drupe about a 1cm wide which contains two seeds. Leaves are oppositely arranged on the spreading branches. They are generally oval, differing in size and shape, and up to 5cm long. native to North America, where it occurs across much of Canada and the northern and western United States. Naturalized in parts of Britain.

USES:

The fruit can be eaten raw or cooked. An insipid flavour, it is best if cooked.

Snowberry was commonly employed medicinally by several native North American Indian tribes. Applied externally they have a gentle cleansing and healing effect upon the skin, killing body parasites and helping in the healing of wounds. The native Americans used it to treat a variety of complaints but especially as an external wash on the skin.

GROWING INFORMATION:

Snowberry seeds have a deep dormancy within them, this requires a degree of patience to overcome. To enable this to be broken down please use the following information as a guide.

First prepare a free draining substrate into which the seeds are to be mixed, this can be a 50/50 mixture of compost and sharp sand, or perlite, vermiculite. The chosen substrate needs to be moist (but not wet), if you can squeeze water out of it with your hand it is too wet, and your seeds may drown and die.

Mix the seeds into the substrate, making sure that there is enough volume of material to keep the seeds separated. Place the seed mixture into a clear plastic bag (freezer bags, especially zip-lock bags are very useful for this -provided a little gap is left in the seal for air exchange) If it is not a zip-lock type bag it needs to be loosely tied.

Write the date on the bag so that you know when the pre-treatment was started. The seeds first require a period of warm pre-treatment and need to be kept in temperatures of 20°C for a period of between 12-16 weeks. During this time make sure that the pre-treatment medium does not dry out at any stage or it will be ineffective!

Next the seeds require a long cold period to break the final part of the dormancy, this is achieved by placing the bag in the fridge at (4°C) for between 18-26 weeks. It is quite possible for the seeds to germinate in the bag at these temperatures when they are ready to do so, if they do, just remove them from the bag and carefully plant them up.

When the period of pre-treatment has finished the seed should be ready to be planted. Small quantities can be sown in pots or seed trays filled with a good quality compost and cover them with a thin layer of compost no more than 5mm deep. For larger quantities it is easiest to sow the seeds in a well-prepared seedbed outdoors once the warm and cold pre-treatments have finished and wait for the seedlings to appear.

Ungerminated seeds can have the whole warm and cold process repeated to enable more seeds to germinate. Fresh seedlings can keep germinating for several years after the original sowing date. Do not expose newly sown seeds to high temperatures (above 25°C). Keep the seedlings well-watered and weed free.

Growth in the first year is usually between 10-30 cm depending on the time of germination and cultural techniques and developing seedlings are usually trouble free. Allow them to grow for 2-3 years before planting them in a permanent position.

Tolerates most soils and conditions, including poor soils and amongst the roots and under the drip of trees. Prefers a well-drained soil and grows well in sun or shade. Tolerates urban pollution and maritime exposure. A very hardy plant, tolerating temperatures down to about -40°C.

Its flowers are much visited by bees and the fruit is very attractive to wild life.

HARVESTED: 2021

APPROX. 50+ SEEDS