Family Vitaceae.
Originating from California, USA.
- Large, lobed green leaves create a vigorous, leafy canopy.
- Heavy bunches of dark purple-black seedless grapes ripen in late summer and autumn.
- Productive and late-season, excellent for extending the grape harvest.
The Black Seedless Grape Vine in Your Garden
Bring the character of ancient Roman courtyards and Mediterranean terraces to your garden. This vigorous vine’s stems quickly take on an ancient appearance with peeling dark brown bark. Their shade-giving canopy of lush foliage and abundant hanging bounty evokes a hedonistic paradise garden like few other plants.
Vitis ‘Autumn Royal’ growth rate is exceptional; its canes (new season’s stems) can grow up to 3m in one season. It is hardy in all except the coldest northern and exposed UK gardens. reaching 4–6m or more in 5-10. For optimal growth and fruit ripening, grow on Norfolk’s south-facing flint house walls. Suffolk’s sun-drenched seaside gardens offer ideal, intense coastal sunshine.
Generous, heavy bunches of luscious black fruits ripen during September and October as the leaves begin their autumnal pyrotechnical colouring. It bears the largest berries of all seedless varieties, weighing up to 8 grams; its bunches can weigh 700-900 grams. Choose this back seedless grape vine for its reliable and bountiful crop
Did you know?
People use grapevine leaves to make dolma by wrapping them around a filling of rice, herbs, and minced meat. The twining tendrils bring a tart, crunchy flavour when added fresh to salads.
Growing Tips for Your Black Seedless Grape Vine, Vitis ‘Autumn Royal’
- Soil and sun: Well-drained, fertile soil. Full sun is essential for good ripening.
- Planting: at any time of year. Never plant a dry plant! Plunge the pot or stand in water for 15 minutes to drench the root ball before planting. Train onto strong wires or a wall support from the start.
- Watering: regularly in its first season while rooting out. For optimal cropping, water frequently as the fruit swells.
- Feeding: Apply a high-potash fertiliser from late spring through summer for maximum cropping.
- Pruning: Let it grow naturally or constrain the plant to any desired size. Once established, prune hard in winter, leaving a framework of thick stems with younger green stems trimmed back to two or three buds.
Gapevines have been bred for centuries to achieve different flavours, fruit types and good cropping. Plant breeders developed Vitis ‘Autumn Royal’ in California as a late-season, seedless table grape, rather than for winemaking. It has become popular with UK gardeners for its sweet flavour and ability to ripen later than most other varieties.
