Exceptional drought, an untimely freeze, and extremely high spring temperatures have conspired this spring to knock out this year’s agarita crop in some parts of the Texas Hill Country.

Our ranch on the Llano River generally serves as an agarita haven. An elevated flood plain hosts a grove of hundreds of agarita bushes, where friends and family gather to harvest agarita berries each May.

In 2024, the agarita crop was described by Andrea DeLong Amaya, horticulture director at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, as “gangbuster.”

Not this year.

Just as the thorny shrubs were pushing out their redolent yellow blooms in February, a multi-day freeze hit, with temperatures in the teens and 20s. Any flowers were frozen in their tracks.

“The flower buds were advanced enough to be damaged by the unusually cold (for that time of year) temperatures,” DeLong Amaya speculated recently. “A few that were still tight were likely protected and thus spared.”

“Ninety percent or more of ours froze,” said Dian Eckert Willmann on the Mason County, Texas Online Community Facebook page.

Ripe agarita berries in May last year. We won’t be seeing such a bounty this year. –Photo by Monika Maeckle

Debra Brandenberger Davenport, also of Mason, agreed. “It froze in February when they flower and that is what killed our crop this year. Hoping for next year.”

The severe drought is likely also a factor.

Parts of Central and South Texas have been enduring months of “exceptional drought” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Generally the early blooms and fruit that follows provide much needed nectar for bees and other pollinators during colder months and carbohydrate rich nutrients later in the spring.

“Drought effects pollination,” said David Creech, Stephen F. Austin State University professor emeritus of agriculture and director of SFA Gardens in Nacogdoches. “You’re stressed, you’re in a drought, you throw the fruit to save yourself. It seems counterintuitive, but that’s how it goes,” he said.

David Rodriguez, Bexar County Extension Agent for Horticulture, agreed that drought and the untimely freeze impacted this year’s agarita crop. “But more on the freeze because it happened when flowers were coming out,” he said.

Agarita’s utility is legendary. In fact, I included it in my forthcoming book Plants with Purpose: Twenty-five Ecosystem Multitaskers, which will be available May 19.

Foragers tap the berries of  Mahonia tirfoliolata, the most common species of barberry found in Texas. The bright red berries look like small currents and can be utilized in tarts, pancakes, and cobblers or made into jelly, syrup, juice, and compotes. Rodriguez mentioned an agarita wine and agarita jam spiked with jalapeño.

The three-pronged spikes of agarita’s leaves create ornery branches that make gathering the berries literally a pain.

The classic harvesting method includes laying lay a sheet or umbrella underneath an agarita bush and gently beating the branches with a stick or broom. You can also comb the spindly reams, from the inside of the bush out, since the prickly leaves face outward. Protective, elbow-length gloves, long sleeves, and jeans are advised.

Agarita tart. Will have to wait to make the next one. –Photo by Monika Maeckle

Inevitably, twigs, agarita leaves, dirt, organic matter, and numerous insects will accompany the berry harvest. After gathering the berries, pick out the detritus.

Wildlife consumes the berries, which are loaded with pectin, carbohydrates, Vitamin C, and antioxidants.

Check out the book!

Agarita is generally not available in nurseries. If you want this plant for your landscape, you’ll likely have to seek it out at native plant sales, specialty nurseries, grow it from seed or transplant from the wild.

According to several sources, growing agarita from seed takes three years to produce a five-gallon plant. Fruit will follow, after how long is unpredictable and depends largely on light, temperature and water. Well-drained soil is a must. Seeds are available online, but be sure to get Mahonia trifoliata.

Elizabeth Johnson, forager, agarita fan and chef at San Antonio’s Pharm Table restaurant, prefers preserving the berries via lacto-fermentation, one of the oldest food processing techniques that uses good bacteria, fungi, or yeasts to give food an extended shelf life. Fermentation makes the berries last and brings out the nuances of the their taste.upon hearing the news,

She was gravely disappointed by the bad agarita tidings.

“I think it’s sad. When we talk about seasonality and we talk about endemic and heritage foods, it’s a cycle. When we have seasonal fruits, it’s good to harvest, store and save for the future.”

Luckily, she froze some agarita berries from last year’s harvest.

TOP PHOTO: Not much fruit this year thanks to a deep freeze in February. –Photo by Monika Maeckle

Related posts: