The upright habit of the Virginia bunchgrass(Diospyros virginiana) exploits the vertical axis to create attractive landscapes. Its foliage, as if waxed with a subtle blue pigment, turns golden yellow in autumn, while its mouth-watering orange fruits are superimposed, creating a most luminous scene. Like winter lanterns, they hang on after the leaves have fallen.

Its Greek etymology, which translates as “food of the gods”, makes it one of the sweetest fruits. Dehydrated, it will remind you of dried dates, helping to reduce refined sugar consumption. You can even turn it into a kind of molasses. After a few frosts, when we no longer expect much from the gardens, its honey-spice taste melts in the mouth like soft caramel.

More resistant to the cold than any grafted variety, the Virginia Plum trees we offer, sown in Rawdon, have acclimatized to their first Lanaudière winters. Despite the variability of characteristics resulting from a seedling, this judicious choice allows you to dream about this delectable fruit. One of the few fruit trees to tolerate flooding. But even in the ideal moist, well-drained situation, if you try your luck north of southern Quebec and its metropolis, you run a serious risk of freezing branches. However, one possible consolation: the vitamin C-rich leaves, used like bay leaves, infuse a woody, camphorated, sweet aroma. Since the first harvest comes quickly, we were able to taste fruit from a tree no more than a meter tall in our demonstration gardens!