red chokeberry

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Survives zone 4 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Tart and astringent raw — more palatable fresh than black chokeberry, but still best cooked with sugar into jams, jellies, syrup or juice, where the abundant pectin gives a heavy, vibrant-red set.

Hardiness

Zone 4–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Summer–autumn

Mature size

Upright suckering shrub 1.8–3 m, leggy at the base with age

Light

Partial to full sun — best fruit in sun

Soil pH

6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)

Environment

Wetland

Native range

Eastern North America — Nova Scotia south to Florida and west to Texas; wet woods, swamp margins and pine barrens.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

2–4 yrs

Growth speed

20–40 cm/year — medium.

Spacing

180 cm (71 in) apart — about 3.2 m² (35 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Alternate, oval to obovate, 3–8 cm long, finely toothed, and densely grey-felted beneath — the hairy underside separates it from black chokeberry at a touch; brilliant red in autumn.

Root system

Shallow, fibrous and strongly suckering, spreading by underground runners to form colonies — excellent for stabilising banks, and easy to increase by division.

Fruit description

Round bright red berries 5–8 mm across in dense clusters, persisting on the bush well into winter; very astringent raw, and used cooked or dried rather than fresh.

Propagation

Division of rooted suckers is much the easiest route. Softwood cuttings in early summer root well; seed needs about three months cold stratification and, being apomictic, comes largely true.

Pollination

Self-fertile and apomictic — a single plant crops reliably with no partner needed, and its seed largely reproduces the parent. One cultivar is sufficient for a full crop. Insect-pollinated by bees.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.