General description: Kamchatka honeysuckles are known the world over under many names, such as the sweetberry honeysuckle, fly honeysuckle, blue-berried honeysuckle, Haskap berry or simply the honeyberry – all these names represent this amazing plant of extraordinary properties. The Kamchatka honeysuckle’s popularity grows day by day, largely owing to the rise of health food trends. The Maple 44 variety produces delectable and very healthy fruit, therefore it is worth seriously considering cultivating it in one’s own garden, especially since it’s easy to do so.

Flowers: This shrub's flowers are quite inconspicuous, pale yellow, and resistant to spring frosts. It’s a cross-pollinating plant, which means that to gain the highest possible fruit yield, it needs to be planted in the near vicinity of other varieties of Kamchatka honeysuckles. Aurora is a perfect pollinator for the Indigo Gem and Honeybee cultivars.

Blooming: Aurora blooms in April.

Leaves: This shrub's leaves are oval, green with a slightly bluish underside. Fresh foliage is slightly tomentose (fuzzy).

Fruit: Aurora’s fruit are ovoid, elongated berries, dark blue in colour and covered with a lighter, way bloom. They are very large, with an average weight of 1.9 g each (weighing up to 2.2 g). The berries don’t fall off after ripening and can be harvested mechanically. They are sweet and the riper the berry, the sweeter it is. Kamchatka honeysuckle berries are rich in healthful nutrients, such as pectins, organic acids, vitamin C and sugars. Moreover, pigments contained in the fruit have remarkable properties of strengthening blood vessels and removing heavy metals and other toxins from the body.

Ripening: Aurora bears fruit from mid-June until mid-July. The first berries may appear just a year after planting. In the second and third summer, one shrub can produce 0.5 to 1 kg of fruit, and in later years up to 5 kg of berries can be harvested. Kamchatka honeysuckles can bear fruit for as long as 30 seasons. The Aurora cultivar is suited for both manual and mechanical harvesting.

Cultivation requirements: Kamchatka honeysuckles are easy to cultivate. They tolerate sandy and dry soils, although they grow best in slightly acidic, moderately moist, sandy loam soils. Aurora prefers sunny locations.

Pruning: During the first five years after planting, Kamchatka honeysuckles need absolutely no pruning. The first thinning out to remove old shoots is to be done after about five years (depending on whether the shrub needs this). Thanks to such pruning, the fresh new shoots will gain access to more light and we gain the possibility of shaping the shrub to our liking. Pruning can be done before flowering after the fruit is harvested.

Overwintering: The Aurora cultivar is particularly frost resistant. It does not freeze in temperatures as low as -40°C and its flowers withstand down to -8°C. At the beginning of November, young shrubs should be covered in soil with peat so that a mound of about 30 cm in height is formed over the plant.

Origin: Canada.