Aronia arbutifolia / Chokeberry

5/17/13 white blooms above the rest of the garden

Planted three in 2008 in the garden between the white birches.

This is 'Brilliantissima'.

(now classified as Photinia pyrifolia)

Pinky white apple-blossom type flowers in spring. This shrub suckers but not much.

The shrubs are tall, rangy, kind of skinny, they are the highest plant in the center of the Birch Garden, but are swamped a bit by iteas under and in front of them.


They have nice clean foliage, and the red fall color is good, but not as noticeable as the iteas in front of them. Prolific berries are not touched by any wildlife.

They can be pruned by 1/3 for legginess in winter, but I haven't done any pruning. They are tall and wispy and need something in front to face down the stems.

5/2/10

5/4/12  Blooming against the 'Orange Dream' Japanese maple

The rosy white blooming aronias look vase-like above the iteas.

5/16/13

Fall color is brief and I never seem to notice it, with the bushier and more deeply red iteas in front.

10/17/13 By October the aronia's leaves are gone. All you see are the wine colored berries on arched stems above the itea.
In fall it is the big deep red itea that you notice. But I like the berried stems of the aronia above it!

11/21/13

Aronias are truly a background plant, not really noticeable on their own, but providing a taller punctuation point above the big stand of iteas now.

9/22/14 - aronias provide the height in the center of this garden

10/30/14 - the paler red aronias are arching up above the scarlet iteas.

Aronias are the shy ones in this garden -- they flower only briefly and delicately compared to the iteas below; they are tall and arching compared to the big bulk of the iteas, and they color for just a short time in a paler red. But that functions well with the heights, the colors and the forms of the rest of this crowded garden.

Berries in November - 11/21/15