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Invicta Gooseberry (Bundle of 2)
$59.99
Reliable shipping
Flexible returns
Ripening
Will it finish before your first hard freeze?
Check it on the Ripening Map (opens in a new tab)At a glance: Invicta Gooseberry is a gooseberry shrub rated hardy to zone 3 in our ratings (winters to -40°F), self-fertile, so one plant can crop, and it ripens about Jul 9 to Jul 19 in Missoula (picked and dated at our place in Missoula).
| Hardy to | Zone 3 to 8. A bare number means the whole of zone 3, colder half included (winters to -40°F). Find your zone with our cold hardiness calculator. |
|---|---|
| Pollination | Self-Fertile. Bloom group 3 of 7 (early-mid), very early spring here. Invicta sets fruit on its own, so one plant will crop. A second gooseberry variety nearby can give larger fruit set. Bloom group is our estimate from the variety's origin and relatives. Currant & Gooseberry Pollination Chart. |
| Ripens | About Jul 9 to Jul 19 in Missoula (picked and dated off our own trees). Real years swing about a week either way. See the date for your town. |
| Good for | Pies and baking (8/10), sauce and butter (8/10), jams and jellies (8/10), cooking and roasting (8/10), canning and freezing (7/10), fresh eating (6/10). Scores are our own 1 to 10 ratings; 8 and up makes our Best Of lists. |
| Deer | Rarely bothered by deer. |
| What you get | Bare root, 6-18" 3rd Year Plants. Shipped or picked up in Missoula in spring, roots wrapped in moist sawdust. Guaranteed to bud out. |
Overview
Invicta Gooseberry (often sold as Malling Invicta) is a European gooseberry selected for high productivity, large green fruit, and strong disease resistance—especially against powdery mildew. From the research available, it traces back to breeding work in England (East Malling), where it entered cultivation as part of modern gooseberry improvement efforts.
History
From published germplasm and pomology references, Invicta is described as coming from East Malling breeding in England and is associated with a multi-parent background that includes classic gooseberry lines such as Resistenta, Whinham’s Industry, and Keepsake.
Fruit Quality & Uses
Invicta is known for very high yields of large fruit (which is large for a gooseberry!) and a flavor that works well both fresh and processed. We've had consistent crops every year in Missoula. It's excellent when fully ripe and the fruit come on around Mid-July here in Missoula. It also excels for pies, jams, sauces, and other cooked uses where gooseberries really shine.
Cold Hardiness
For an “absolute extreme winter low” figure for what Invicta has survived down to, the most explicit cultivar-specific claim we found repeatedly in nursery cultivar specs is that Invicta is hardy to about −40°F, which corresponds to a solid Zone 3 shrub in practical planning terms. That said, it may be even hardier than this, but we don't exactly know. Invicta will therefore work in most of Western Montana. As it goes for the Eastern part of the state, it is likely that Invicta would survive most areas, but still plant in areas free of frost pooling (up on a bench and certainly out of depressions or lower elevation sites on your property).
Other Notable Characteristics
Invicta is vigorous and thorny, and it’s often recommended for training/trellising and regular pruning to keep picking manageable and improve airflow. Its heavy bearing tendency and mildew resistance are big reasons it became so widely planted.
Shrubs are 6-18"
Shipping restrictions: white pine blister rust quarantine
Gooseberries and currants (Ribes species) are alternate hosts for white pine blister rust. We cannot ship this plant to New Hampshire or North Carolina, where its sale or importation is prohibited by state law. North Carolina prohibits all Ribes statewide; New Hampshire permits only a short list of named rust-resistant cultivars, which does not include this variety.
Permit or county-level restrictions also apply in: Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and West Virginia (prohibited in specific counties or townships) and Delaware, Michigan, and Rhode Island (state permit required). Please check your local rules before ordering.
Orders placed to a prohibited state will be cancelled and refunded.
Questions we get about Invicta Gooseberry
Does Invicta Gooseberry need a pollenizer?
No. Invicta Gooseberry is self-fertile, so a single tree can set fruit. Invicta sets fruit on its own, so one plant will crop. A second gooseberry variety nearby can give larger fruit set.
How cold hardy is Invicta Gooseberry?
We rate Invicta Gooseberry hardy to zone 3, which means winters down to about -40°F. Our ratings come from real winters at our two Montana sites and from trusted growers across the North, not from a catalog average.
When does Invicta Gooseberry ripen?
About Jul 9 to Jul 19 in Missoula, Montana (picked and dated off our own trees). Warmer places run earlier and cooler places later; our ripening map converts the date to your town.
What is Invicta Gooseberry good for?
Our top use scores for Invicta Gooseberry are pies and baking (8/10), sauce and butter (8/10), jams and jellies (8/10), cooking and roasting (8/10). Anything scored 8 or higher makes our Best Of lists.
Will deer eat Invicta Gooseberry?
Rarely. Deer seldom bother Invicta Gooseberry, though a hungry winter deer will try almost anything.
What arrives, and when does Invicta Gooseberry ship?
A dormant bare-root plant, roots wrapped in moist sawdust with a vapor barrier, shipped or picked up in Missoula in spring. Sizes offered: 6-18" 3rd Year Plants. We guarantee our plants bud out. Stone fruits can be slow, so if one still has not budded out by August 15, write to us and we credit you for the following spring.