There is an aronia farm not far south of Madison, and I have had pound cake made with aronia, instead of blueberries. It was very good, but then you have to consider that there is considerable sugar in this recipe.

I'm relatively close to you (on the north side of Charlotte), and I added three goumis (Red Gem, Sweet Scarlet, and an unnamed seedling) plus a Viking aronia last year. All came from Burnt Ridge Nursery, and I was really impressed with their heatlh and size. All are in part sun, and I planted them in slightly raised mounds on top of heavy, compacted clay soil.

The goumis really impressed me with their vigor. As of right now, the two named varieties are between 3' and 4' tall (from 18" or so at planting) and are loaded with fruit buds that are just beginning to open some flowers. The seedling, while adding nearly as much size, has no fruit buds that I can see. That's not surprising, I suppose, since the named fruits are propagated from cuttings. I did get one fruit from the Sweet Scarlet last year, and I recall that it was quite good -- I'm sorry to say that I can't remember the flavor all that well at this point. It wasn't overly sweet, but I do recall that it had a very unique and interesting flavor. Overall, the bushes thrived through our hot and humid summer. They received some supplemental water, but I don't know that it was necessary. For the most part, the sprinkler was for other nearby plants, and the goumis never showed any signs of drought stress.

The Aronia wasn't nearly as vigorous as the goumis (they outgrew it 2 to 1), but it did well enough. To its credit, it managed quite well in spite of being in a tough location. It's still completely dormant at this point, but it looks good overall. I'm really not sure what to expect from the berries, but I do hope that I'll have a chance to try some before we sell our home late next year. Some say that they're too astringent to eat fresh, and others say that they're quite good. I like tart and astringent foods, so I'm optimistic that they'll be good eating out of hand.

I like goumi. They have a chewable seed. Robins eat them. NO other problems.

Aronia does have an astringent taste. I mix them with orange juice. Very yummy that way . They are chock full of vit C and antioxidants. Their flavor adds a lot to the orange juice, but I don't really like them by themselves.

Gojis taste good but slugs keep killing mine.
John S
PDX OR

Goumi is an early ripener. Sweeter when left to darken with a slight shrivel. By then, the robin has eaten them all. Fairly large seed for a small berry.

I'm interested in the Goumi's more for health benefits (very few fruits with omega-3 oils) and also as a nitrogen fixer.

If anyone would be willing to offer seeds or cuttings, I would be elated.

Made a batch of Aronia-infused vodka last year - the berries can be 'extracted' multiple times - and made a tasty drink - the astringency was still there...but not offensive.

To Yukkuri,

You can actually get fertile seeds for Goumi and Gogi at Health food stores....

Buy a bag of goumi or gogi dried fruit... They contain the seeds... Many folks have reported that the seeds are viable... and have started plenty of plants from them.

Thanks

South Carolina is too hot for aronia. This is a fruit developed in Russia from a Michigan native berry, and does well in the Baltic region and points East. Why not sea buckthorn? Of course you will suffer when you pick those berries, but two gallons of them, turned into jam, contain all the vit. C for your family for the winter, plus numerous carotenoids. Aronia is big in anthocyanines, and of course the fact that the russians developed it is proof of its nutritional value. But the russians developed sea buckthorn too.

You may consider hazelnuts. Tell your squirrels to thank me for this suggestion.

I'm in Raleigh NC and grow all three and have no problems with heat or humidity so far - and many of them are many years old. Goumis are the most reliable and easiest to grow. They do tend to get big, I think some of mine have branches that are close to 10 feet long. They tend to bend over at that length but they do get in the way. I used to say that Sweet Scarlet was not as tasty as Red Gem but was much more productive - now that they've all been in the same spot for a couple of years I cannot tell the difference between them. The berries are on the bush a long time, like month or more. During that time there is a period of about a week where they have the best flavor. They'll taste kinda like a cherry mixed with a cranberry with a hint of cherry tomato. None of them will survive the trip to the kitchen. Before that time they are a bit tart-er and not as intense of flavor - but still fun to eat. They make a fine jelly or syrup but the look is odd because they get milky when cooked with sugar so it looks like you've made jelly out of pepto bismal. A couple of bushes will eventually produce enough berries for a family of humans and a yard full of birds.

My aronias a just on their second year but should bloom this year. They are very strong growers for me. The raw berries I've tasted were too harsh and bitter. But cooked with sugar and lemon they have a wonderful tangy, super berry flavor. I'm growing them for juice which I plan on mixing with other fruits so it doesn't matter to me.

Goji took about a year to get settled in and are now growing so much that I have to prune them every other month year round. So far the berries taste like mild cherry tomatoes to me. Other people think they taste more fruity. Worth growing, but don't plant a lot of them. A couple of plants will give you all the fruit you need.

I've also got Sea Buckthorn (Seaberry) and Prinsepia which are not old enough to bloom but they've handled some hot summers and cold winters without any problems.

One plant that I cannot get enough of is wild Passionvine (Passiflora incarnata). A garden thug but not as bad as kudzu. If you let the fruits fall off the vine and then either blend the jelly like seed sacs from the inside with other fruits in a blender or just suck them out and lightly chew them up and swallow - they have an intense tropical flavor. The jelly like seeds inside do look like frog eggs so it can be hard to get other people to try them - but thats okay with me, I can eat them all by myself.

I've started goji from seed but the plants never did very well in my poor soil and neglect. I never got fruit even though the plants survived for 7 years or more.

I got interested back when the antioxidant craze seemed to be taking off. Since then I've moderated my excitement about antioxidants. So what if they have 50% more than the 6 other fruit they tested or whatever. They are little berries that nobody claims are delicious. Its easy to eat 3 times as much of a tastier fruit and end up ahead on the nutrients. Besides, apparently your body can only benefit from so much antioxidant at once.

If I had a dollar for every fruit that was claimed to be the most nutritious I could retire.

This thread has gotten me interested in taking another look at goumi.

edit: First time using the edit feature, nice. My reason for posting was to comment on aronia, but I forgot to.

I've found that aronia can vary hugely year to year with growing conditions, so don't decide you hate them from one sampling.

I've tried them from 4 or 5 different bushes. Mostly seedlings but also a named cultivar that I grew at home that described the fruit as bitter on the tag. In none of the cases did the fruit seem particularly bitter to me. Certainly nothing like cranberry or grapefruit in that dept. But they are very astringent until dead ripe.

They seem to be least astringent and sweetest in the same years when they are large, mild, sweeter and juicy. I'm thinking that the key to the better performance is plenty of water and sun and hanging on the bush until they are softer.

This post was edited by murky on Sun, Mar 24, 13 at 6:16

I've been growing goumi and aronia for about 10 years. My plant are seedlings from Burnt Ridge, from back before they offered cloned varieties.

The goumi makes a tree -- not the 4x6 shrub it is reported as. Mine was 25x20 when I started a multi-year pruning project to smallify it. I've now got it down to about 14x10.

My goumi makes thousands of flowers, but only about two fruits per year and I would not call them edible. Very astringent, with no sweetness or tastiness. The flowers smell like root beer, though, and the hummingbirds love them. And it's a pretty tree in summer, so I think I will keep it.

The aronia is also much bigger that claimed. It would be about 10x10 for me, in mostly-shade, but I prune it a lot. It makes fruit on second year wood, so be aware of that when pruning.

The aronia berries are too astringent for me, too, for fresh eating (but not mouth-puckering like the goumi). I use them in smoothies, or add them to blackberry or blueberry pies for added nutrition. One bush makes a ton of fruit. It's also the prettiest plant in my yard for fall color -- a lovely orange.

If I were stating a new garden, I would not include an aronia. It's just not that great and I'd put something else in the space. I'd recommend it more as an ornamental than a food plant.

I might plant a named variety of goumi if starting over -- but I'd probably grow it to fruiting size in a pot if I could, or a spot where I could remove it easily, rather than commit to it before I'd tasted it. Unless I was growing it just for its looks and fragrance. I would, i admit, miss it's scent in the spring if I didn't have it. Kind of like very garden needs a rose :).

I grow Goumi and Aronia. Both are easy to grow. The Aronia has a bit of a problem with lace bugs. They are small sucking insects that poke tiny holes in the leaves to suck out liquid. It doesn't seem to slow the plant at all, but it does spoil the fall color, because the leaves a pretty ratty by then. If I hose them off in the summer, they don't seem to come back.

Goumi leaves look as good in the fall as they do in the spring. The problem with Goumi, as others have mentioned, is the Robins. They eat all the fruit as soon as it turns a bit red, which is quite a few days before it is ripe! I guess they don't mind the astringency. Ripe, the fruit is OK. I netted the bush a couple times, one year I made jelly. It was OK, but nondescript.

Aronia berries taste terrible on their own. Most years, the birds won't touch them, and I've tried leaving them on the bush, sampling them every week or so until they start to shrivel, so I'm sure it's not a ripening issue. I put them in smoothies, and the flavor is not an issue. I have made jelly and syrup with them, and both are really good. The jelly and syrup have a distinct, kind of wine like taste...I guess what wine drinkers call tannic.

Alex

I myself like tart fruit, but these sound like they are extreme. I may try them if I get bored, but have others I like and want to expand on. Such as currants and elderberries. Not good fresh, but terrific in jams, and smoothies, etc.
Balancing them, the flavor of red currants is really good. I actually like it better than raspberries or strawberries. But everybody is different. It kinda tastes somewhere between a cranberry and strawberry to me. I hope in the future to make raspberry-currant, and blueberry-currant jams. It gives a nice tang to these fruits.
Coconut and red currant smoothies, wow! Tartness is completely gone. My favorite way to consume them. I want to try soaking them in vodka, strictly as an experiment :). It will probably make an excellent vodka martini, drop a few raw berries in too. Much like a cranberry martini. You guys are in a little higher zones, they grow best in zone 5. They are fine here too in 6a. I want to start some elderberry bushes, but have not ordered any, busy with new fruit trees this year. I'm not sure where to put them either. I like the looks of Black Beauty and Back Lace ( both S. nigra). These are really nice looking plants! A couple different species of elderberry, needs a pollinator, have to make sure you get the right species. For berry production Adams and Nova sound good (Sambucus canadensis).

Would you be willing to send me a couple of starts of the goumi "sweet scarlet"?

aronia are not native to Russia. They are native to the Appalachian Mts. in the US, which I think the area around the Chatooga river is part of. The cultivars have been developed in places like Poland and Russia, where they have little other fruit. They are very pest and disease resistant and productive.

John S
PDX OR

Electron2582 - I have no luck getting them to root from cuttings, only from air layering which takes over a year.

I found a way to root any hardwood tree or shrub from a cutting and I want to try it with a goumi plant.

Aronia grows easily from cuttings for me. I cut a slice down both sides so roots can grow out, and plant 2/3 of it below the ground in November here. Goumi doesn't work well that way for me, but most plants do. I have started many goji/wolfberry plants that way too.

John S
PDX OR

In my garden both Aronia and Goji are way to invasive for me to even want to propagate them - they pop up in all the pathways. When visitors ask for some I just hand them a shovel and let them dig all they need.

That sounds really tempting John! Are you sure??? Hehe

Haha!! Very Funny John,

Everything grows like kudzu in your garden.. I am a witness to it!!!

Well I would like to try it from a health point of view...

Right now , I mix Blackberries, raspberries and blueberries, strawberries with watermelon, Lime etc...,. blend it all and drink it. How can Goji and aronia be harmful to this mix????

Maybe I have to get some yummy food to convince you!! I will even bring my own shovel. :-)

The Goji I have only makes a few berries and they are very very small - about the size of a single grain of puffed rice. They only seem to fruit in the middle of the winter. The dried berries at the Asian market are much better in size and flavor and they are cheap. If you grew Goji in your garden your entire neighborhood would have these monster weeds (covered with thorns!). Not a good idea.

i have 3 autumn olive trees, all about 3ft tall

i cant wait for fruit. i hope they taste good ?

How are they compared to goumi ?

i keep killing goji for some reason ? ive got 1 left, but, it isnt growing...

I would love a goumi cutting or plant

(ive got lots of stuff to trade -papaya, mango, loquat + lots more)

My gojis have also stopped fruiting. I eat the leaves. Autumn olive is a champ, but they'll get much bigger. They taste like goumi, but the fruit is a bit smaller. Different time of year too. JOhn S PDX OR

Ok Ok ! the thorns convinced me!! John, No goji berry for me!!

I think I will try these...

1. thornless Raspberries.. is there such a thing as thornless raspberry?

1. sherbet berry aka Phalsa. Grows in zones 9 plus. The fruit and the drink are both awesome!!!

3. Natal plum. This one I know is really sour but oh so delicious Zone 8 plus.

4. Passion fruit not just flowers ...I have tasted the passion fruit juice. in india and loved it. The vine grew on the green house our our field lab and was almost like Kudzu. The flowers are good looking and the juice is delicious.

I am sure the list is going to be long before I stop planting... but does anyone ever stop?

Red Raspberries hate Raleigh weather but they will survive. The best flavor is in 'Mandarin' but they are hard to find (and yes, I have some). You just have to prepare yourself for diseases to take over and then you'll have to clean them all out and start over with new plants.

I have a Sherbet Berry, got it at Big Blooms down in Sanford but I don't think they had any when someone else went looking for them. Mine seems happy here, it blooms but is too small to fruit.

The most productive fruits in my garden are blueberries, persimmons, goumis, and kiwis - followed by figs and blackberries - everything else takes up a lot of space and only gives me a bowl full of fruit or less.

Blackberries are producing every day for the last 2 weeks. and still going strong.

The blueberries have slowed to 2 fruits.. but then, i have only one producing the other is just planted..

The strawberries did ok this year. I did not get too many fruits this year.

the figs are still green.. I am waiting to them to ripen..

the sour cherries.. The birds and the deer get them before i can get to them.

the apple , peach and pear and plum are resting in eternity...:-(.

the raspberries I just got from Ralph at the swap.. I got 4 berries from them... I am assuming it will grow bigger and produce more.. Ralph, could you tell me which cultivar it this one.?

I am planning on getting a thornless one too. Still trying to decide which one.. I bought the box store ones.. Bad idea.. nothing grew even after a year.

Tammy, Lisianthus, you mentioned a great place to me for buying fruit trees for less. Could you message me with the contact... address / ph # or email ..." please Thanks in advance

Autumn olive is a 15 foot tall noxious weed here in southern Illinois. Fruit on some are good tasting, pea sized. Some are quite astringent and sour. Birds spread them everywhere.

Still no berries, since it is just the first year for me, but my goji berry seemed to be attacked quite a lot by flea beetles. I figured once they moved to the eggplant the goji would improve, but though it has grown a lot, it seems still quite eaten up by the flea beetles.