Crowberry

Crowberry: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Creeping, heather-like dwarf shrub of 10–30 cm that forms a carpet with rooting stems.

Leaf

Alternate but tightly packed, needle-like, 4–6 mm, glossy green; the edges are rolled under so far that only a white stripe remains visible underneath.

Stems

Reddish-brown stems that lie on the ground and root.

Flower

Tiny reddish-purple flowers with 3 petals in the leaf axils, April–May.

Fruit

Glossy black berries (5 mm), July–September; edible but bland.

Difference from heather

Heather has scale-like leaves in four rows and lilac flower spikes in August.

Difference from cross-leaved heath

Cross-leaved heath has greyish-green, hairy needle-like leaves in whorls of four, and pink bells.

Flowering: April–May · Harvest and fruit: July–September · Pruning: March–April

Identify by feature: Black berries

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Heather Calluna vulgaris: scale-like leaves in four rows and lilac flower spikes in August. Difference from heather
• Cross-leaved heath Erica tetralix: greyish-green, hairy needle-like leaves in whorls of four, and pink bells. Difference from cross-leaved heath

Why grow it?

• An evergreen, dark green carpet for poor, acid soil in the sun.
• Native and rare: a piece of real dune and heathland nature in the garden.
• Glossy black berries in summer, for the birds.
• Needs no fertiliser and hardly any pruning.

Crowberry: where does it grow best?

• Full sun; in shade it becomes straggly.
• Acid, poor, sandy or peaty soil; dry or moist, as long as there is no lime.
• On ordinary garden soil: make a raised bed or planting pocket with sand, acid leaf mould and needle litter.
• Allow about 50 cm width per plant; with its rooting stems it spreads slowly.

Light

Full sun

Legal basis

Acid soil

Moisture

Dry to wet

Size

0.3 m tall, 0.5 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Heather: Flowers in August–September on the same acid, poor soil; together, the look of dune heath.
• Cowberry: An evergreen, native dwarf shrub with red berries for the same acid soil.
• Creeping willow: A low, native willow of the same dunes and heaths, with early catkins for bees.
• Scots pine: A pine at the edge of the heather garden adds acid needle litter.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Likes the acid soil near: scots pine, black pine, weymouth pine, english oak, sessile oak, giant redwood
• Like acid soil, just like this plant: heather, rhododendron, japanese skimmia, raspberry, highbush blueberry, witch hazel, broom, gorse

Best kept away from

• Do not plant under the dense crown of these trees: norway spruce, european silver fir, nordmann fir, douglas fir, yew, horse chestnut, norway maple, sycamore

Crowberry: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant in spring (March–April) or in September–October.
2. Buy pot-grown plants from a nursery that grows native plants; never take plants from the wild.
3. If you want berries, plant several together so that you are sure to have both males and females.
4. Space them 30–40 cm apart at the same depth as in the pot, and water in with rainwater; don’t add fertiliser or lime.

Care

Watering

Regular rainwater in the first year; after that only in long dry spells.

Feeding

Don’t: crowberry grows on poor soil, and fertiliser only helps grasses and weeds.

Weeding

Pull out grasses and birch and pine seedlings in good time.

Mulching

A thin layer of needle litter keeps the soil acid and weed-free.

Tip: Let crowberry spill over the edge of a low wall or a bank: the rooting stems hold the soil, and the dark green contrasts beautifully with heather.

Crowberry: when to prune it?

Pruning months: March–April.

When: In March–April, if needed.

How:

• No pruning needed.
• In a garden, at most trim back overlong stems, for instance where they grow over a path.

Caution: Only prune when it is really necessary: a carpet left alone looks best.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Layering

The trailing stems root by themselves: in spring, cut off a rooted piece and replant it.

Cuttings

In summer, take 3–5 cm cuttings and root them in a moist mix of sand and ericaceous compost, under plastic.

Crowberry: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy and evergreen.
• Even in winter, a dark green carpet among the bare heath.

Diseases and pests

• Lime or fertiliser: Yellow, sickly plants. Crowberry can’t tolerate lime or fertiliser: plant it in acid soil and water with rainwater.
• Grass invasion: Grasses and birch and pine seedlings grow through the carpet. Weed them out in good time.
• No berries: There are only male plants, or females without a male nearby. Plant several together.
• Shade: Straggly, floppy growth under trees. Move it into full sun.

Through the year

• March: Prune if needed; planting.
• April: Last month for pruning; tiny reddish-purple flowers.
• May: Weed out grasses and tree seedlings.
• July: The first black berries; water in long dry spells.
• August: Berries for the birds; take cuttings.
• September: Planting possible again.
• October: Planting and mulching with needle litter.

What can you use it for?

For wildlife

Typical of acid dunes, heath and raised bogs; birds eat the berries.

Garden and landscape

Evergreen ground cover for a heather garden on poor, acid soil.

Food and drink

The berries are edible but bland; in Scandinavia they are made into juice and jelly.

Edible and useful

Berries (July–September)

Pick the little berries from late July to September, when they are glossy black and soft; they often stay on the plant until winter. They hide among the needle-like leaves along the twigs. Strip them gently from the twig with your fingers and leave the plant intact. It is slow work: the berries are only 5 mm across and half a litre soon takes an hour. Raw they are bland, slightly sour and full of seeds; cooked with sugar and a little lemon they taste much better.

Storing

Firm and unwashed, crowberries keep for a week or longer in the fridge. You can wash them, dry them well, open-freeze them on a tray and then tip them into a bag; they stay good for a year that way. Jelly keeps for a year in sterilised jars, syrup for six months in sterilised bottles.

Caution: Crowberry is a low, evergreen shrub with needle-like leaves, and its berries sit directly against the twigs, without a stalk. Do not confuse the berries with other black berries such as those of deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), black nightshade (Solanum nigrum), herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia) or alder buckthorn (Frangula alnus): they are poisonous or cause stomach upsets, and they grow on completely different plants. Eat modest amounts and only sound, ripe berries, and throw away any that are mouldy or shrivelled. Crowberry is rare in Flanders and grows in protected dunes, heath and raised bog: never pick in nature reserves, and preferably harvest from a plant in your own garden. Wild berries grow close to the ground: wash them thoroughly or heat them, because of the small risk of fox tapeworm eggs. Do not pick beside busy roads, and never eat anything you have not identified with certainty.

Eating and using is at your own risk: see the terms of use.

Recipes

• Crowberry jelly (Jelly · ± 3 jars of 250 ml · 1 hr + 2 hrs draining)
• Crowberry sauce for game (Dish · ± 250 ml, serves 4 · 30 min)
• Crowberry and pear compote (Compote · ± 600 g, serves 4 · 30 min)
• Crowberry syrup (Syrup · ± 500 ml · 30 min + 1 hour draining)

Did you know?

• Crowberry long had a family of its own, the crowberry family; DNA research showed that it simply belongs to the heather family.
• Dune heaths with crowberry are a protected habitat type in Europe under Natura 2000.