My daughter has 3 virbunum plants which she chose not knowing anything about them. She just needed some shrubs to fill in a space. Last fall I tasted one of the blue-black berries, and was surprised by it's sweetness. I tried making jelly with them but it would not jell. This year I followed directions I found in a Certo box and still had no luck. But I am persistent and decided to try cooking it a little longer. (after emptying all the bottles back into the pot and washing them again), it became a soft jam instead of a jelly, but it's beautiful. My jelly bag was a lovely burgundy, but as I washed it in cold water the most beautiful blue green dye emerged! It did wash out but anyone that uses dyes should investigate these berries.
I live and garden in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
In 2000 I bought a house on a very ordinary .4 acre subdivision lot. It was a demonstration project for landscaping mistakes that had had 30+ years to mature. I spent two years ripping out overgrown evergreens and since then have been replanting with flowering, fruiting things, many of them east coast native plants.
My interest in planting for wildlife began as an attempt to create an enriched environment for the cats but has developed into a belief that plants in the landscape should earn their keep by providing food or shelter for someone, man or beast.
These are several of the things that inspired me to reduce the size of my lawn and give more space to native trees and shrubs:
Dear Susan
ReplyDeleteMy daughter has 3 virbunum plants which she chose not knowing anything about them. She just needed some shrubs to fill in a space. Last fall
I tasted one of the blue-black berries, and was surprised by it's sweetness. I tried making jelly with them but it would not jell. This year I followed directions I found in a Certo box and still had no luck. But I am persistent and decided to try cooking it a little longer. (after emptying all the bottles back into the pot and washing them again), it became a soft jam instead of a jelly, but it's beautiful. My jelly bag was a lovely burgundy, but as I washed it in cold water the most beautiful blue green dye emerged! It did wash out but anyone that uses dyes should investigate these berries.