GRRRR!!!! The Rabbits Ate My Blueberries Again!

[soccermomof3]

Now I have to decide whether to keep on this losing battle. I was just about to put the netting around my blueberries which were covered in blossoms. Too late, the rabbits stripped the plants back to the stems. What do the rabbits not eat? I have raspberries already--do they eat strawberries? I saw some fruit bush at the Superstore gardening centre; it had blue berries, but they weren't blueberries. Is anyone familiar with that fruit...is it good, and do the rabbits eat it? What other plants do you have that you like...gooseberries etc?

[davefrombc]

That bush in the SuperStore may have been the "Honeyberry", also known as "Haskap". The bush is hardy in all zones and produces oblong, blue berries. They are an edible berried variety of the honeysuckle family . Here is the U. of Saskatchewan website pages on their Haskap development program.

http://www.fruit.usask.ca/haskap.html

[soccermomof3]

Thanks Dave. Yes you're right, they were haskap. Have you ever tasted them?

[orchidguy]

I grow them here, and they taste to me like a cross between a bit of a sour blueberry and an elderberry. I've had these honeyberry for about a decade now I believe, and still do not get a large enough crop from them to make jam or pies from. I like the taste of them, but many who come here don't.

[davefrombc]

I have the Borealis and Honeybee varieties in pots. This is just their second year of growth .. I got a handful of berries off them last year , but only a few this year because they bloomed early and there were almost no pollinators to be had because right at the time they were in flower we had a bit of a cold, wet dip from our unusually warm winter and early spring .. I like the taste of them, but really can't describe it. It is a bit similar to a slightly tart blueberry.