Bog Cranberry (Lingonberry) vs Northern Black Currant - TreeTime.ca

Bog Cranberry (Lingonberry) vs Northern Black Currant

Vaccinium vitis-idaea

Ribes hudsonianum

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

CUSTOM GROW

Bog Cranberry (Lingonberry)
Northern Black Currant

Bog Cranberry is a native, ground cover species. These plants generally produce one crop per year in summer. Plants may spread 3 feet in width forming a dense mat which makes it attractive as an ornamental ground cover.

Wild crops of Bog Cranberry are harvested each year in Newfoundland (more than 200,000 lbs/yr). Harvest of wild fruit can no longer keep up with demand. In Europe, 80 million pounds per year of this crop is grown or harvested from the wild.

Bog Cranberry flowers are similar in shape to those of blueberry and may be white or pink in color. These berries are considered to be highly flavored but not as tart as cranberries.

Check out our YouTube video of this plant in the fall: Fall Bog Cranberry.

Northern Black Currant is a native deciduous shrub found across Canada and the northern United States. Dark purple to black berries that ripen in summer and provide food for wildlife and humans. Fragrant yellow-green flowers that attract a wide variety of pollinators.
This shrub is well adapted to moist soils and can even survive periods of flooding. It has an interesting bronze colour in fall.

Bog Cranberry (Lingonberry) Quick Facts

Northern Black Currant Quick Facts

Zone: 2a
Zone: 3a
Height: 0.2 m (0.7 ft)
Height: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Spread: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Spread: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: normal, wet
Moisture: normal, wet
Growth rate: slow
Growth rate: medium
Life span: medium
Life span: medium
Growth form: upright to prostrate, thicket-forming
Spreading: seeds - low, layering - low
Suckering: low
Maintenance: medium


Flowers: white or pink
Flowers: small white, in clusters
Bloom time: spring to early summer
Berries: tart, cranberry-like
Berries: black, edible
Flavor: bitter
Harvest: mid to late summer
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, BC, SK, MB, ON, QC, NS, NB, NL, YT, NT, NU, PE
Native to: AB, BC, SK, MB, ON, QC, YT, NT
Other Names: cowberry, dry ground cranberry, fox berry, foxberry, lingonberry, northern mountain cranberry, partridgeberry, rock cranberry, wolf berry, wolf-berry
Other Names: hudson bay currant, stinking currant, western black currant, wild black currant