Deciduous shrub of ornamental flowers and edible, black fruit. Easy to maintain, healthy and highly hardy. Suitable for house gardens and parks.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE: Upright shoots. Leaves dark green, turn purple red in autumn. Flowers small, white, gathered in racemose corymbs, bloom since V. Round, black fruit with a waxy coating, ripen in VIII–IX.

HOW IT GROWS: Shrub of upright shoots forming the shape of an upside down cone. Fast growing, reaching 2-3 m height with an annual growth of 0.3-0.5 m.

WHERE TO PLANT: An tolerant plant yielding best fruit when placed in a sunny site and well-drained soil of a neutral or slightly acidic pH; it does not require acidifying of the soil as opposed to highbush blueberry.  Highly hardy (zone 3–7).

HOW TO PLANT AND MAINTAIN: Before planting immerse the plant container in water for 10-30 min.  Place the root ball in a 40 x 40 x 40 cm hole with a 10 cm layer of well-rotten manure. Fill the hole with fertile compost soil. Flatten the earth around the plant and cover with bark mulch. Place the root ball 0.5-1 cm deeper than it was in the container. Fertilize from April and water adequately during growing season. The shrub does not require regular pruning. A light pruning can be performed once the plant thickens after a couple of seasons. Excessive pruning limits the fruitification.

HOW TO APPLY: An all-purpose plant suitable for house gardens and park settings. Vitamin C rich fruit contain large amount of anthocyanins, tannin, pectin and mineral salts as well as antioxidants. They are used to make juice, syrup, jam and tincture. They have anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties and stabilize blood glucose. Birds feed on them.

ORIGIN: Russia. Raised by Ivan Mitshurin.