Bittersweet
Garden Clippings for Feb 6, 2021
Lambton County’s trail system is getting a workout, and it’s the pandemic’s fault.
We are not getting out much and being home 24-7 is not good for the soul, so fresh air is a savior. Weekends in particular are busy.
This past Sunday I bundled up and spent an hour on the Howard Watson Nature Trail, my favorite. Other than normal guys like me, there were families pushing buggies, cross country skiers, runners, and young fellows on bikes with fat tires.
Cheryl frequents the trails more than me, probably two or three times a week. She does not have to tell me that I am annoying if we walk the trail together. She is on a mission, while I would often stop and smell the roses. When I hit the trails, I am amazed at what I see: the colour changing on the Sumac heads, the amazing bark of Shagbark Hickory, the tap-tap of Downy Woodpecker. And the Bittersweet.
When I see Bittersweet, I think of my mother. At the end of every year, in early winter, without fail, she would be on the hunt for Bittersweet. Sometimes she would get lucky and find some at the Farmer’s Market, but most often she would need to trek off to the edge of a forest in search of Bittersweet. When she brought a few cuttings home she would often complain that the berries were too sparce. In her mind, the best Bittersweet was laden with bright fruit.
Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) is a native Canadian and American vine that grows at the edge of the forest where it gets enough light. In spring and summer bittersweet has no outstanding features. Spring flowers are not colourful, summer leaves are small and plain green, and fall stems are brown. It is not until early winter that Bittersweet puts on a show with distinctive bright orange berries.
If you are lucky enough to find Canadian Bittersweet, officially called American Bittersweet, cut a few stems and bring them indoors to be used in dried arrangements. My mother would put the stems in a small vase and enjoy the bright orange colour for a full calendar year after which it would need to be replaced because it became dusty and brittle.
In home landscapes, American Bittersweet will grow along fences or on the support of a trellis or arbour. It will grow about 15 to 20 feet long or high, and may need to be pruned in order to improve tidiness.
Bittersweet is dioecious, meaning you will need both a male and female plant to produce berries. Only the female plants produce berries and will only do so if there is a male partner nearby to fertilize the berries.
Don’t confuse native American Bittersweet with Oriental Bittersweet. The latter was introduced to USA from Asia about 250 years ago. Oriental Bittersweet looks like its native cousin but grows twice the pace, twice the size and tolerates shade. Oriental Bittersweet grows and spreads so aggressively that it earned a spot on the invasive species list. If left unchecked, Oriental Bittersweet will invade and conquer all neighboring vegetation.
Oriental Bittersweet is not yet a serious problem in Lambton County. In other jurisdictions it has grown as rampant as Phragmites. Oriental Bittersweet propagates readily by spreading underground roots that shoot up new stems, and by birds that eat fruit and promptly poop out seeds in fertile soil.
