Hummingbirds love Chocolate Berry clusters
"I’ll be dipped" is a phrase common in the South and rural areas that can mean surprise or even more vulgar, depending what exactly you are dipped in. As a candy buyer, Lorraine Lorusso often did candy demonstrations in front of the Stop and Shop store.
One day in the early 1960s she noticed the big fresh Driscoll strawberries over in the produce aisle and had the inspiration to dip the strawberries in chocolate. The berries sold like crazy at the unheard-of price of 50 cents each, just in time for Mother’s Day.
But what if you could grow chocolate berries in your own garden? The Himalayan Honeysuckle (Leycestria formosa) produces small, round dark-purple berries that taste remarkably like dark chocolate. It is also called Chocolate Berry, Elisha’s Tears, and because of its blossoms, Flowering Nutmeg. This Tibet native quickly grows into a multi-stemmed shrub about six feet tall. From summer through autumn the white flowers with purple bracts are stunning, and quite attractive to hummingbirds and other pollinators. The flowers have a light, delicate fragrance. The six-inch-long, dark-green leaves have a wavy edge to them and are quite attractive.
Chocolate berry plants are hardy in USDA zones 6-10. Even if winter kills the stems they will often resprout in the spring. The plants grow fast, much like butterfly bushes (Buddleja davidii) and will reach several feet high in a single season. Mature plants can form a thicket but are easily kept in check with pruning.
Chocolate berries grow best in fertile, moist soil. The ideal soil pH is between 6.1 to 7.8, but they seem to do well in any soil. Choose a sunny spot that doesn’t stay soggy or the roots can rot. They can tolerate some shade so do well as an understory plant or along a wooded border. They are relatively carefree but you can apply compost in autumn. You can rake in a good organic fertilizer in early spring before growth starts.
It is easiest to start with plants, but you can grow Himalayan Honeysuckle from seed. Sow the seeds in the fall and keep them in a cold frame or other protected spot until spring. They can scatter seeds throughout the garden, so you may find volunteer plants to share with friends.
You can also take softwood cuttings in the summer and easily root them in soil.
If you need to prune chocolate berries cut them back to the base of the shrub in early spring, just as the flowerbuds begin to swell up.
A big bonus of the chocolate berry is that it brings in hordes of hummingbirds who feast on the dangling flowers. The edible berries attract small animals and birds. Even the hollow bamboo-like stems are fun to make into flutes and whistles.
Himalayan Honeysuckle or chocolate berry plants are available from Joy Creek Nursery, joycreek.com 20300 NW Watson Road, Scappoose, OR 97056, phone 503-543-7474; and Raintree Nursery, 391 Butts Road, Morton WA 98356, phone 800-391-8892.
Plant a chocolate berry and you will have large clusters of flowers for cutting and hummingbirds galore. Whether or not you eat the bitter chocolate berries is up to you. It’s such a great, easy-to-grow plant you just may be dipped.
