Wild About Cranberries

There are some really cool places in Wisconsin to watch birds and other wildlife, especially in the spring, and one of the best places – believe it or not – is a cranberry marsh!  The wetlands surrounding the marshes provide a natural habitat for more than 200 species of wildlife, many of them birds like bald eagles, swans, cranes, or the great blue heron!

Cranes even helped cranberries get their name.  It’s true!  Early settlers decided cranberry blossoms looked like the head, neck, and beak of a sandhill crane, so they called the tart, red berries “crane-berries.”  Over time that was shortened to cranberries, the name we use today! 

Spring is also the time when some cranberry growers plant new vines.  Cranberry vines are a perennial plant, meaning once they’re planted they’ll continue to blossom and produce berries year after year.  But many growers want to create new beds, so they cut vines from an existing bed and spread them out into a newly prepared bed.  After a couple of weeks, the vines will take root and start to grow.  And after four or five years, the new vines will produce a crop of harvestable berries!

Check out Wisconsin Cranberry Growers to learn more about cranberry marshes.!
Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association