Romanet grape

Survives zone 6 through 9

Harvest calendar

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

A Chinese wild grape grown almost entirely as a curiosity — its young shoots and stems are covered in thick, rust-red woolly bristles and the leaf undersides are coated in dense grey felt, an ornamental trait that easily outweighs its small, unremarkable fruit.

Hardiness

Zone 6–9

Habit

Vine

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Sept–Oct

Mature size

Vine 8–15 m

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

6.0–7.0

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Western China (Sichuan, Hubei, Gansu and neighboring provinces), in thickets at 900–1200 m elevation, with some presence in Laos; introduced to Western horticulture by the missionary-botanist Armand David in 1872–73

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

2–3 yrs

Growth speed

Medium, to about 10 m

Spacing

200 cm (79 in) apart — about 4 m² (43 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Firm-textured, three-lobed leaves 15–25 cm long with a deep, narrow basal sinus and bristle-tipped teeth; dark green and slightly downy above, covered in dense grey felt beneath with hairy, bristly veins

Root system

Vigorous and deep-rooting, as in most of the Asian wild grapes.

Fruit description

Small berries about 8–12 mm across in small bunches, edible raw or dried but not notably flavorful

Propagation

Seed (fresh-sown, or 6 weeks cold stratification if stored), hardwood cuttings taken December/January, or layering

Pollination

⚠ DIOECIOUS — needs male + female (a vigorous fruitless wild vine is usually a lone male)

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.