The haskap ‘Indigo Gem’ (Lonicera caerulea) allows for ideal cross-pollination with ‘Aurora‘. Our first cultivar to ripen in June, it offers a balanced sweet-tart flavor, firm fruit that extends its shelf life, and a pleasant chewiness. The most productive in the ‘Indigo’ series, it is as productive as ‘Aurora’, but with smaller fruit. Its growth habit is more open, with drooping arches. Haskap bushes are among the first to awaken after the snow melts. This shrub, native to the subarctic regions of North America, Europe, and Asia, wastes no time in taking advantage of the short growing seasons.

The Haskap ‘Indigo Gem’ rings its flowery bells for the bumblebees, which open the dance in creamy white, and then, from its second year onwards, quickly signals the start of the fruit harvest for the pickers, as the strawberries ripen. It will bear fruit for more than 30 years. Three times more antioxidant than blueberries, they are called berries of long life in Japan (Haskap). Sometimes secluded in acidic peat bogs, it adapts to clay soils even when waterlogged, favoring rich and moist soils covered with an organic mulch that retains moisture at least until the fruits swell with juice.

With its elongated, creamy bloom, the haskap is reminiscent of the blueberry, its melting pulp containing a few wild blackberry seeds and the perfectly balanced bittersweet acidity of rhubarb and blackcurrant. More than welcome in jams and other sweet recipes, its pronounced, complex flavor also complements savory dishes. Long before ripening, the berries remain blue, falling to the ground when it’s time to bring out the basket, or the tarp placed under the bush, which can be shaken for added convenience.

Some prefer to cover it with netting because in some years, bird damage quickly depletes it. Although few insects are involved, after the harvest, from mid-summer onwards, heat waves and drought can strike without affecting it, as can foliar diseases, although the aesthetic damage can break the hearts of sensitive gardeners who discover plants completely dry, completely grey… completely bare, then, surprised, celebrate the resurrection at Easter when pruning the old wood whose yields are declining. The modern varieties we select are more resistant to disease, but without guarantee.

Camouflage these small shrubs behind plants of similar height that are late to leaf out, such as Echinacea ‘Magnus Supérieur‘. These won’t steal the show from the lively bumblebees, and will then take over the landscape once the leaves begin to fade.