All kinds of pretty fruits and berries are coloring up right now. Tempting-looking clusters hang from nearly every shrub and hedge. This one’s common name, red chokeberry, gives a clue to the almost astringent taste of the plump little berries. But wait! Before you give it the admiring “Thanks, but no thanks,” pass, memorize the Latin name. Aronia arbutifolia. You have seen that somewhere recently, maybe in little tiny letters, maybe on the label of a vitamin-enhanced miracle beverage in the cooler at the corner store. 

This native shrub has lovely white flowers in spring, grows almost trouble free in somewhat damp, partly shady spots, changes to lovely shades of apricot and ruby in the autumn, and… it’s really high in vitamin C, is made into jams and used as a natural food coloring in things like yogurt and juice drinks. Its closest relative, black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), has dark purple fruits that are higher in anti-oxidants than blueberries, grapes and cranberries. Native Americans used it to make pemmican, that staple wilderness food made of dried meat and berries.

The demand for products like nutritional supplements, beverages, and snacks made with Aronia has been growing as its potential benefits become better known.The shrubs are undemanding and easy to grow. Some Midwestern state agriculture researchers have been investigating its potential as a more-widely-grown crop. In the meantime I think it could be more widely grown as an ornamental, too.

Posted by Ann McCulloh

The bottle gentian, Gentiana andrewsii, is a hardy, native perennial that blooms from September into October. The flower never actually opens – that’s where the plant’s other common name, closed gentian, comes from. The bumblebee is the main pollinator for this species, since it’s just about the only insect burly and determined enough to push its way into the tiny opening at the tip of the blossom.

Bottle gentians thrive in part to full sun. The key to their well-being is moist soil and an undisturbed location. They can be found in damp, open fields, floodplains, and even roadside ditches in remote areas of Northeastern Ohio. Deer leave them alone for the most part because most parts of the plant contain an extremely bitter plant chemical called seco-iridiods.

There are species of gentian native to Europe as well. There, the bitter substances found in the roots gave rise to a number of medicinal uses. Here in the U.S. the Native Americans used gentian root to treat snakebite and digestive problems. A patent medicine made from gentian, called “Moxie” was marketed in 1876. It was later sold as a soft drink and is actually still made and sold in New England as a nostalgic specialty.

I’ve never tried “Moxie”, although I mean to one day. Right now, it’s enough of a tonic for me to stroll into the Japanese Garden and be amazed at the brilliant, unearthly blue of gentian flowers.

Posted by Ann McCulloh