Cowberry

Cowberry: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Evergreen dwarf shrub of 10–30 cm that forms a carpet with underground runners.

Leaf

Alternate, oval, 1–3 cm, leathery, glossy dark green with a slightly rolled edge; paler underneath, with dark gland dots.

Stems

Thin, upright stems growing from creeping underground runners.

Flower

White to pink bells (5–8 mm) in short, nodding clusters at the tips, May–June.

Fruit

Glossy red, sour berries (5–10 mm) in clusters, August–October.

Difference from bilberry

Bilberry is deciduous, with pale green, finely toothed leaves, green angular twigs and blue berries.

Difference from bearberry

Bearberry creeps over the ground, with net-veined leaves without gland dots and mealy, bland red berries.

Flowering: May–June · Harvest and fruit: August–October · Pruning: March–April

Identify by feature: Red berries

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus: deciduous, with pale green, finely toothed leaves, green angular twigs and blue berries. Difference from bilberry
• Bearberry Arctostaphylos uva-ursi: creeps over the ground, with net-veined leaves without gland dots and mealy, bland red berries. Difference from bearberry

Why grow it?

• Evergreen: a glossy, low carpet all year round.
• White bells in May–June for bumblebees, and red berries for compote, jam and the birds.
• Native and now rare: a piece of real heathland in your garden.
• Stays low and hardly needs pruning.

Cowberry: where does it grow best?

• Sun to partial shade; in deep shade it bears few berries.
• Acid, humus-rich soil (pH 4–5.5) that stays moderately moist; no lime and no wet feet.
• On ordinary garden soil: make a planting bed of ericaceous compost, pine bark and sand, or grow it in a trough or pot.
• Lovely in a heather garden, under pines or birches, or as an edging to rhododendrons and blueberries.

Light

Sun or partial shade

Legal basis

Acid soil

Moisture

Normal

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 they make a real heather garden.
• Scots pine: Its needle litter keeps the soil acid; cowberry grows naturally in pine woods.
• Bilberry: Its wild relative, deciduous and with blue berries, for the same acid soil.
• Common juniper: A native, dark conifer that rises above the low carpet.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Suits the woodland edge or the light shade of: english oak, sessile oak, pin oak, turkey oak
• Like acid soil, just like this plant: heather, rhododendron, japanese skimmia, raspberry, highbush blueberry, witch hazel, broom, gorse

Cowberry: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant in spring (March–April) or in September–October.
2. Buy pot-grown plants from a nursery, preferably one that grows native plants; never take them from the wild.
3. Space them 25–30 cm apart: within a few years their runners form a closed carpet. Several plants together also pollinate better.
4. Plant at the same depth as in the pot, water in with rainwater and don’t add lime or ordinary manure.

Care

Watering

Keep the soil moist in the first year, preferably with rainwater; tap water is often limy.

Feeding

Usually unnecessary. On poor sandy soil, at most a little ericaceous fertiliser in spring.

Mulching

A layer of pine bark or pine needles keeps the soil acid, cool and weed-free.

Weeding

In the first few years, weed out grasses and weeds until the carpet has closed.

Harvesting

Pick the berries when they are fully red, from late August to October; raw they are sour, cooked they are delicious.

Tip: For a harvest, choose a variety such as ‘Koralle’: it stays compact and crops heavily. Cook the berries with a little sugar into a compote: delicious with game, stews and meatballs.

Cowberry: when to prune it?

Pruning months: March–April.

When: In March–April, if needed.

How:

• Pruning is usually unnecessary.
• In a garden, at most cut back overgrown or frost-damaged twigs.

Caution: Needs acid, humus-rich soil (pH 4–5.5).

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Division

In spring, cut out a piece of the carpet with its runners and replant it straight away.

Cuttings

In summer, take cuttings of about 5 cm from young shoots and root them in ericaceous cutting compost, kept moist under plastic.

Cowberry: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy and evergreen.
• The berries often stay on the plant into winter: food for birds.
• In a pot: place it somewhere sheltered and don’t let the compost dry out.

Diseases and pests

• Yellow leaves: Yellow foliage caused by limy soil or tap water. Water with rainwater and mulch with pine bark.
• Drying out: Brown, dried-up plants after a dry summer, especially in full sun and in pots. Give rainwater in dry spells.
• Grass invasion: Grasses and weeds grow through the young carpet. Weed them out in good time.
• Few berries: Too much shade, or a single plant. Give it more light and plant several together.

Through the year

• March: Prune if needed: cut back frost-damaged twigs; planting.
• April: Last month for pruning; mulch with pine bark.
• May: Flowering: white bells for bumblebees.
• June: Last flowers; give rainwater in dry spells.
• August: The first berries turn red.
• September: Harvest; planting possible again.
• October: Last harvest; planting.

What can you use it for?

Food and drink

Sour berries for compote, jam and sauce with game; not very tasty raw.

For wildlife

Flowers for bumblebees; berries for birds in autumn and winter.

Garden and landscape

Evergreen ground cover for a heather garden or under pines, on acid soil.

Edible and useful

Berries (August–October)

Pick the berries from mid-August to October, when they are completely glossy dark red. They ripen unevenly, so pick in several rounds and leave unripe, white or pink berries on the plant. Raw, they are very sour and a little bitter: they only taste really good cooked with sugar. Pick carefully so that the low, evergreen plants stay intact.

Storing

Unwashed, the berries keep well in the fridge for a few weeks, thanks to their natural benzoic acid. They also freeze well: spread them out on a tray first, then put them in a bag. Compote and liqueur keep for a year in sterilised jars and bottles.

Caution: Raw, the berries are very sour; they are not poisonous, but only taste really good cooked. Only pick berries you recognise with certainty: the glossy red berries grow in small clusters on a low, evergreen dwarf shrub with leathery leaves. Do not confuse them with the poisonous berries of cotoneaster or the mealy berries of bearberry. In the wild, cowberry is rare: do not pick on heathland or in nature reserves. It is better to grow it yourself on acid soil. Plants from a garden centre may have been treated: wash the berries and never eat anything you have not identified with certainty.

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

Recipes

• Cowberry compote (Compote · ± 3 jars of 250 ml · 25 min)
• Cowberry sauce for game (Dish · 4 servings · 30 min)
• Cowberry crumble tart (Dish · 1 tart tin of 24 cm (± 8 slices) · 1 hr 15 min)
• Cowberry liqueur (Liqueur · ± 700 ml · 20 min + 8 weeks steeping and maturing)

Did you know?

• The berries naturally contain benzoic acid, so they keep for a long time. In Sweden they are eaten as ‘lingon’ compote with meatballs.
• In the Netherlands it is also called ‘vossenbes’, fox berry.
• The scientific name vitis-idaea means ‘vine of Mount Ida’.