Plant small exotic fruits!

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Blue honeyberries with the flavour of bilberry, scarlet cranberries on a shrub barely a foot high, and pale red murtillas that smell of wild strawberries: small exotic fruit shrubs crop generously in beds, pots and balcony boxes. Give them cool, acidic soil that is never chalky and most will shrug off hard frost.

It is a brilliant and unique enjoyment.

Here is a selection of small exotic fruits that resist the cold. Perfect for planting on a balcony!

Four cold-hardy exotic berries at a glance

The four shrubs described below differ sharply in size, cold resistance and soil needs. Use the table to pick the one that suits your plot, terrace or balcony box.

Only the Chilean guava needs winter shelter in colder areas; the other three take hard frost in their stride.

Light honeyberry

Unlike European honeysuckle which bears poisonous red berries, this variety native to Siberia produces edible blue-colored fruits.

Lonicera kamtschatica or honeyberry never grows any taller than 5 feet (1.5 meters). It can resist temperatures down to -40°F (also -40°C) ! But it is vulnerable to drought. Mulch the base of the shrub in summer. It loves cool and acidic soil (heath soil), not chalky. Plant in part sun and to increase fruit formation, plant two or more specimens nearby.

Its not very sweet berries taste somewhat similar to bilberry or kiwi and are perfect for diabetic persons and those who must watch their weight. They can be eaten raw, dried, in jams, syrups, etc.

Antioxidant cranberries

Cranberry is a low-lying shrub that never quite makes it any higher than 12 inches (30 cm) tall. Native to North America, it is hardy down to -22°F (-30°C). It loves cool, moist and and acidic soil. Exposure is either full sun or part sun.

Its red berries, cranberries, can be nibbled on raw or dried, or paired with main courses and desserts and added to juice or jam. Their antioxidant properties are appreciated to reduce tooth inflammation and cystitis.

• Cranberry fruits best in distinctly acidic ground, around pH 4 to 5.5, so plant it in ericaceous compost rather than ordinary garden soil.
• Water with rainwater where possible, since tap water high in carbonate alkalinity — bicarbonates that often accompany hardness — can gradually raise the growing medium’s pH over repeated waterings.

Vitamin-rich goji berries

Goji (or wolfberry) can grow over 10 feet (3 meters) tall. Hardy down to -4°F (-20°C), it loves dry ground that isn’t chalky; expose it to either sun or part sun. Pinch it once a year for it to grow denser.

Its red-orange colored goji berries ripen from late summer to mid-autumn. Replete with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, they have been part of Chinese medicine for millennia.

They can often be found in nutrition stores or organic food shops.

• Goji (Lycium barbarum) is generally described as self-fertile, so a single plant can set fruit on its own, though growing a second plant nearby may improve pollination and boost yields.
• Plants that spread by underground suckers can be kept in bounds by growing them in a large container or by digging out the wandering shoots each year.
• In blackberries and other brambles, the long whippy canes arch over and can root where their tips touch the soil, so tie them to a trellis or a few stakes.

Strawberry-flavored “Chilean guava”

Sometimes called “murtillas”, the light red berries of the Chilean guava are up to ½ inch (1 cm) across. They are harvested in summer and can be consumed raw or in ice cream. Their fragrance is close to that of wild strawberries.

You can grow this shrub as a standalone, in a bed, or in a garden box on a terrace or balcony. Soil must drain well and not be chalky. Hardy down to 17°F (-8°C), it can be planted in sun or part sun.

Pierrick Le Jardinier

• Before hard frost arrives, move tender potted plants into a cold greenhouse, porch or other sheltered spot, and mulch the base of those growing in open ground to insulate their roots.
• In highbush blueberries, a single bush will set some fruit on its own, but planting two different cultivars nearby noticeably increases berry number and size through cross-pollination.