tall Oregon grape

Photo: The original uploader was Meggar at English Wikipedia. — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 5 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Sharp, tart — mostly for jelly; barberry dried as a spice.

Hardiness

Zone 5–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Late summer–autumn

Mature size

Upright shrub 1–3 m; containerable while young

Light

Partial to shade — foliage bleaches in full sun

Soil pH

5.5–7.0

Environment

Woodland

Native range

Western North America — British Columbia south through Washington, Oregon and northern California, east to Idaho and Montana; open woodland and forest edge from near sea level to over 2,700 m.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

2–4 yrs

Growth speed

8–15 cm/year — slow, roughly the 3–6 in/year quoted by growers.

Spacing

120 cm (47 in) apart — about 1.4 m² (16 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Evergreen, pinnate, with 5–9 glossy holly-like leaflets, each spine-toothed and leathery; bronze-red as they open in spring, dark green by summer and often deep burgundy in winter.

Root system

Shallow and rhizomatous, spreading by underground stems to form suckering colonies rather than holding to one crown.

Fruit description

Round to oblong berries 8–14 mm across in tight clusters, ripening dark blue-purple under a heavy grey bloom; sharply acid and full of seed, but excellent cooked into jelly.

Propagation

Seed sown fresh without drying, given at least three months cold stratification outdoors over winter. Also increased from semi-ripe stem cuttings, or — simplest of all — by lifting rooted suckers and dividing multi-stemmed clumps.

Pollination

Self-fertile — one plant crops on its own. The stamens are touch-sensitive, snapping inward when an insect probes the nectar glands at their base and dusting the visitor with pollen; where insects are absent the anthers usually meet the stigma as the flower fades.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.