Photo: Daderot — Public domain · source
Survives zone 6 through 9
Harvest calendar
Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.
Grown almost entirely for its ghostly, white-powdered (pruinose) winter canes and fern-like foliage — much like its close relative R. cockburnianus — the small black fruit that follows the purple summer flowers is essentially an afterthought and not considered palatable.
- Hardiness
- Zone 6–9
- Habit
- Shrub
- Edible part
- Fruit
- Ripens
- Summer–autumn
- Mature size
- Arching shrub 1.5–2.5 m, the canes white-bloomed
- Light
- Full sun to partial
- Soil pH
- 6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)
- Environment
- Temperate
- Native range
- Western China, notably the Min River valley in Sichuan at 1,200–1,800m (roughly 4,000–6,000ft) elevation, where it is described as rare in the wild; introduced to Western gardens by E.H. Wilson for Veitch nursery, flowering there in August 1908.
- Status
- Ornamental
- Years to fruit
- 2–4 yrs
- Growth speed
- Reaches its ultimate size in about 5–10 years, with vigorous new cane growth every year once established.
- Spacing
- 200 cm (79 in) apart — about 4 m² (43 sq ft) per plant
- Leaf shape
- Fern-like, pinnately compound leaves 10–23cm long with 7–13 oval-to-ovate, coarsely and angularly toothed leaflets — dark green and glossy above, whitish and felted beneath, diminishing in size toward the leaf tip.
- Root system
- Suckering rootstock producing new biennial canes each year; second-year canes flower and fruit before dying back.
- Fruit description
- Small (roughly 1.5cm), black, roundish fruit with a bluish bloom, following small (1cm) purple, saucer-shaped flowers; not palatable and grown for ornament rather than eating.
- Propagation
- Softwood cuttings in summer or hardwood cuttings in winter; also increased by division of rooted suckers.
- Pollination
- Self-fertile
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.
Growing guide
How it spreads. Suckers from the base and can spread by runners in cultivation — vigorous enough to need watching and containing in smaller gardens.
Growing tips. Fully hardy (RHS H6, tolerating roughly -20°C); grows in full sun to partial shade in any well-drained soil (chalk, loam or sand; acid to alkaline). For the best silvery-white winter cane display, cut all stems to the ground each spring, since the bloom is most vivid on vigorous young wood — the same technique used for R. cockburnianus. Holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit.
Grow journal
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