Botanical Name: Aronia melanocarpa
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Common Name: Black Chokeberry  
Plant photo of: Aronia melanocarpa
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Water Saving Tip:

Fix leaking sprinklers, valves, and pipes.

One broken spray sprinkler can waste 10 gallons per minute - or 100 gallons in a typical 10 minute watering cycle.

  • Anatomy

  • Culture

  • Design

Plant Type

Shrub

 

Height Range

3-6'

 

Flower Color

White

 

Flower Season

Spring

 

Leaf Color

Dark Green

 

Bark Color

Brown

 

Fruit Color

Black

 

Fruit Season

Winter, Fall

Information by: Stephanie Duer
Photographer:
  • Description

  • Notes

Black chokeberry is a tough, deciduous shrub, growing about 3 to 6 feet tall and wide, with a rounded vase shape. Clusters of white flowers appear in May, and are followed by berries that ripen to blue-black in early autumn, persisting into winter. The fruit is so bountious that the branches become pendulous under their weight. Leaves are a glossy, dark green, turning a brilliant orange to scarlet in the fall. Berries are edible, though bitter, but make a healthy juice, and are used in jams and jellies. The birds even find them bitter, leaving them alone until after the first frosts, which sweeten the fruit up a bit. This is a fabulous, adaptive, unexplainably under-utilized shrub. Use for hedges, foundations, or to add color to the shrub border. A tougher and more adaptive alternative to burning bush for fall color. There are some planted at our pump station on 70th South, just below Wasatch Drive.