Wolfberry or Goji berry is a yummy anti-oxidant berry on an easy to grow vine. We’ve got our vine bungee-corded to a metal pole with a curved plant hanger on each side, but you can run this vine up anything from an arbor to a dead tree. The first year it just kinda sat there and looked sad, the second year it had a few berries, but after the third year it’s been healthy and happy and keeps producing more berries as I pick off the ripe ones. They’ve got a definite juicy honey-sweet flavor to them. I’ve found that it’s not a good idea to let them dry on the vine, because they get so sweet they attract ants. Maybe in a few years when the vine is totally full of fruit we might think about picking them fresh to dry, but at this point in time they are so good none get past the picking-fresh-and-popping-in-the-mouth stage.
(Lycium barbarum) Also known as Matrimony Vine, is an attractive Chinese native shrub that grows 8-10′ in height. Light purple bell-shaped flowers bloom in May and continue throughout the summer. Flowers are followed by orange-red berries.
In China these sweet nutritious berries are eaten fresh and dried like raisins. The berries are among the highest in anti-oxidants, have more carotene than carrots, and contain all the essential amino acids and many minerals. Chinese Wolfberry is self-fertile and drought resistant, and likes full to half-day sun and well-drained soil. (Make sure you order from a reputable company…there are two kinds of Wolfberry – one sweet, the other not so good.)
We ordered our plant from Raintree Nursery.
