Leijpark013

@leijpark013 · 19 Jan 2022

Follow Following

Leijpark013 American currant tree

#leijpark013   #americantree

Published by Thierry P. Dinjens · January 16 at 18:01 ·
Food is everywhere around us, including in the Leijpark. This food is often invisible, purely due to the fact that we do not know or recognize it. It's time to change that. In Leijpark, budding in April, we find a shrub with beautiful white blossoms, introduced here from America and Canada in the 18th century: the American currant tree. This tree starts with bronze red leaves, which later turn green. The American currant tree is used to the strong sea wind and can also have a lot of air pollution, making it extremely suitable for growing in the urban area. It is therefore starting to become increasingly popular as a garden plant in our cities. It can form into hedges or can be grown as a multi-stemmed shrub. Her blossoms attract all kinds of insects, such as bees and butterflies, so she is extremely useful to increase the biodiversity in your garden (or the Leij Park).
Her biggest contribution, however, lies in her berries. Birds really love it. The berries ripen in the middle of summer, so in July and are blue-violet in color. They are also not to be dismayed for us. They taste like blueberries (and we all know how expensive a container of blueberries is in the supermarket) and they are packed with vitamins and antioxidants. Even if you eat large amounts of it (and then can just be raw, out of the fist) you won't get a bad aftertaste of it. However: hardly anyone knows this shrub and no one eats berries from a bush in the Leij Park if one does not know what it is. There are also plenty of bushes with berries whose eating is a less good, even dangerous plan. The American currant tree is a welcome exception to this.
Now there are always enemies of plants. Often these are insects, but in the case of the American currant tree, this is a fungus called mildew. However, this fungus cannot survive on the bush in winter, because it is leafless. What mildew does then is move to the juniper, to return happily in the spring. This means that your American currants only have a chance of success in your garden, if you don't have juniper. It's one thing or the other, but together doesn't go.
The berries of this shrub are increasingly finding their way to consumers; the commercial food industry has been watching the plant and quite rightly so. It's just not to be hoped that a container of currant tree berries will soon be ridiculously expensive. But don't worry: forget the supermarket and walk like Little Red Riding Hood with a basket on the arm into the Leijpark. You will not pick flowers, a basket full of berries is a wonderful alternative. If you are on your way to grandmother's cottage, give her a handful too. She will appreciate it, after all, she is also a 'berry 'herself.