Fresh, delicious berries and currants throughout the summer on shrubs that are easy to grow in sun or shade and give high yields of fruit.
Vigorous bare-root plants, 30-60cm tall are available from December.
Potted plants are available all year, for collection only.
Blackcurrants
Well known for their high levels of vitamin C, these berries are the original ‘superfood’! Easy to grow and very hardy. See below for our full range of blackcurrant varieties
Gooseberries
We are passionate about this delicious, very British fruit! Rarely seen in supermarkets, and then usually only the mouth-puckeringly unripe fruit. However, if left to fully ripen on the bush, these turn rich reds or yellows and are delicious raw – a gourmet experience only available to those who grow their own. See below for our full range of gooseberry varieties
Honeyberries
Also known as edible honeysuckle, honeyberries are one of our favourites. The fruits are very similar to blueberries in taste and looks, and can be eaten raw or used in jams and jellies. Like blueberries they are high in antioxidants and vitamin C and make an interesting addition to your fruit collection.
Hybrid berries
These hybrids are vigorous, very easy to grow and produce vitamin rich ‘superfood’ berries with a range of different and exciting flavours, rarely available in the shops. See below for our range of cane fruit and blackcurrant hybrids
| Gooseberry | ||
| Hino Red | Early-season | Dark red fruit with good flavour on vigorous plants |
| Black Velvet | Mid-season | Dark red fruit with excellent flavour on vigorous, easy to grow plants |
| Hino Yellow | Mid-season | Yellow fruit with good flavour on compact bushes. |
| Yellow Champagne | Mid-season | Gourmet heritage yellow fruited variety, smaller than some other varieties but an excellent dessert fruit |
| Hamamekii | Mid-season | Red fruit with good flavour on vigorous plants |
| Redeva | Late-season | Large, purple-red fruit with excellent flavour on vigorous plants with few thorns |
| Annelii | Late-season | Dark red fruit with good flavour on vigorous plants |
| Blackcurrant | ||
| Ben Gairn | Early-season | High yields of large fruit. A modern, reversion-resistant variety. |
| Barchatnaja | Mid-season | Very hardy and high yielding Russian variety with large fruit. Frost resistant and self-sterile. |
| Ben Alder | Mid-season | High yields of large fruit, late flowering. |
| Ben Hope | Mid-season | High yields on vigorous bushes. Excellent flavour and resistant to big bud mite. |
| Big Ben | Mid-season | Heavy cropping with extra large fruit of excellent, sweet flavour. Disease resistant |
| Kosmichesnaya | Mid-season | Very hardy, frost resistant Russian variety |
| Ben Lomond | Mid to late season | Large fruit with excellent flavour. Late flowering. |
| Ben More | Mid to late season | Heavy yields of very large fruits. Very late flowering, vigorous bushes. |
| Black Reward | Mid to late season | Very vigorous, high yielding bushes, with medium sized fruits. Late flowering. |
| Honeyberry | ||
| Aurora | The large fruits have an elongated, oval shape and have a higher sugar content than other varieties. | |
| Blue Velvet | A high-yielding variety that bears very large and flavourful, sweet-tart medium blue berries. | |
| Tundra | Not as high yielding as other varieties but its high quality fruit more than make up for this short coming. | |
| Wojtek | Polish variety, very heavy crops of sweet-tart fruits on large vigorous bushes. | |
| Zojka | A strong-growing Polish cultivar of large, sweet-sour fruit. |
| Hybrid berries | |
|---|---|
| Jostaberry | A hybrid between gooseberry and blackcurrant, inheriting the best characters of both parents. A very vigorous, disease-resistant, thornless bush with fruits larger than blackcurrants. The rich flavour is less overpowering than blackcurrants, great on their own or mixed with other berries |
| Chuckleberry | A new, complex hybrid between blackcurrant, gooseberry and redcurrant. Early fruiting and high yielding, with berries larger than blackcurrants with complex mix of flavours from all three parents. |
| Loganberry | A vigorous, heavy cropping cane fruit, originating as a hybrid between raspberry and blackberry. Grow as for blackberries, but fruit are a deep red, with a rich fruity flavour |
| Sunberry | A new high-yielding hybrid with a long fruiting season. Flavour is similar to Loganberry but sweeter and darker, appearing like a giant blackberry. |
| Whitecurrant | A white-fruited form of redcurrant, with a similar flavour, but with the distinct advantage that the colour is less attractive to birds, which can decimate your redcurrant crop. |
About The Mother Tree
The Mother Tree is a partnership between Richard Lewis and Schumacher College, a department of The Dartington Hall Trust, which is registered in England as a company limited by guarantee (no. 1485560) and a charity (no. 279756).
Contact Us
The nursery is split between Henri’s Field (opposite Schumacher College) and our propagation area near the Old Craft Education Building. We’re usually around on Thursday, 9AM to 1PM. Pop in and say hi or drop us a line to check our schedule this week.