Blue Banana Haskap
Blue Banana Haskap
Species: Lonicera caerulea
History: Blue Banana was developed by Lidia Stuart of Berries Unlimited, potentially bred from Russian varieties or a cross between Russian and Japanese varieties. The variety is named for the unique shape of the berries and was likely selected for their large size and sweet flavour.
Why We Grow It: Blue Banana is exceptionally sweet compared to other haskap varieties and the flavour has been described as 'smoked strawberry.' These large, sweet berries are good for fresh eating along with cooking, baking, preserving, etc! The bush itself grows quickly and is relatively disease resistant.
Fruit Specs
Fruit Specs
Recommended Use: Fresh eating, juice, cooking, drying, jelly, wine, etc.
Fruit Size: Large
Storage: Keeps about a week when stored in the fridge
Harvest: June - Middle
Growing Specs
Growing Specs
Canadian Hardiness Zone: 2
Soil Preference: Prefers average conditions and well-drained soil
Flowering Time: Middle
Bloom Colour: Greenish-white
Pollination Requirements: Requires a pollinator of a different haskap variety with a similar bloom time
Sun/Shade Requirements:
Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)
General Growth Habits:
Shrub reaches 1.5m, vigorous, upright growth habit with dense branches. Good disease resistance.
Shipping vs. Pick Up
Shipping vs. Pick Up
CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.
Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.
Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.
Size at Purchase
Size at Purchase
Haskaps are divided into the following grades:
- 2 year plant - 20-40cm
There is some overlap in size since we are also taking the age of the plants into account. Some older plants may not have put on quite as much vegetative growth but will have larger root systems.
Unless specified, heights exclude the roots since seedlings and some berries will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).
Not all of our berries and seedlings will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively.