black chokeberry

Photo: manfred.sause@volloeko.de — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 3 through 8

Harvest calendar

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

⚠ Very astringent raw — best processed into juice, wine or jam.

Hardiness

Zone 3–8

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Sept

Mature size

Shrub 1.5–2.5 m; containerable

Light

Partial to full sun — shade-tolerant, but best fruit production in full sun

Soil pH

6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Eastern North America — Newfoundland and Ontario south to Georgia and west to Missouri; bogs, wet woodland, rocky slopes and clearings, on a wide range of soils.

Status

Cultivated

Years to fruit

2–3 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, glossy dark green with finely toothed margins and — the genus's diagnostic character — a line of tiny dark glandular hairs along the top of the midrib; 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 glossy black berries 6–12 mm across in flat clusters, ripening late summer; intensely astringent raw (the 'choke' in chokeberry) but very high in anthocyanins, and excellent in juice, jam and wine once cooked or sweetened.

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.