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Well I never knew that!
Four fruity bushes you can eat

Berberis vulgaris C s

Our very own native British barberry – an a ractive, red-tinged,
deciduous, thorny shrub with lots of droops of edible berries in summer This winter-flowering cornus has its characteristic fluffs of
and autumn. The fruits are sharp and lemony and are great to harvest yellow flowers, which are a great source of food for early
from a native hedge in your back garden! Plant berberis shrubs now. bees, but it’s the glossy cherry fruits in summer and autumn
Supplier: www.agroforestry.co.uk. that make it a useful edible for the garden. These fruits taste
like plums. Plant now for blooms and fruits in future years.
Supplier: www.burncoose.co.uk.
Mahonia aquifolium
Less prickly leaves than other
mahonias, and with puffed blooms
instead of tall spires. It flowers in
spring followed by berries. Mahonias
are fantastic shade lovers, which
are evergreen and very versatile.
Plant it under a hedge or as a
colourful utility shrub and ground
cover. It’s not just the berries that
are edible, it’s the flowers, too.
Supplier: www.agroforestry.co.uk.

Sorbus aucuparia edulis GAP
This is a cultivated variety of our native rowan, which has particularly
edible berries and is thought to have been brought to cultivation in
the 19th century. It’ll stay relatively compact for many years as most
rowans do. Try the fruit in warming berry puddings or as rowan jelly.
There’s still plenty of time to plant bare-root trees and bushes now.
Supplier: Beechwood Nurseries – www.3fatpigs.co.uk.

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