Deciduous shrubHedgeSmall spaceRain gardenPollinatorsNativeFall color

Black Chokeberry

Aronia melanocarpa

A tough native shrub with clusters of white spring flowers, glossy black berries and red-purple fall colour. It grows almost anywhere, from boggy pond edges to drier ground, in sun or part shade, and the berries are edible though very tart. It suckers into a colony and gets leggy at the base, so it shines massed.

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Black Chokeberry: flowers — Photo: Linda N. from Chicago, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mature size: 6.5 × 4.5 ft; 2 × 1.4 m, tall × wide
Hardiness: Zones 3a–8b; USDA
Sun: Full sun to part sun
Water: Medium to wet
Blooms: May–Jun; Fall color Oct–Nov

Black Chokeberry at its mature size

A mature Black Chokeberry grows 3 to 10 feet tall and 3 to 6 feet wide, taller than most people.

Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.

Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension.

Through the year

What Black Chokeberry looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.

Dormant · Dec–Mar

Bare upright gray-brown stems.

In leaf · Apr, Jun–Jul

Glossy dark green leaves, no flowers or fruit.

In flower · May

Flat clusters of small white flowers with pink centres across the glossy green leaves.

Fruit · Aug–Sep

Drooping clusters of shiny black-purple berries among glossy dark green leaves.

Fall · Oct–Nov

Wine-red to bright red glossy leaves, black berries still hanging.

Photos

Black Chokeberry: fall color — Fall color · W.carter, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Black Chokeberry: detail — Detail · Dguendel, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Growing Black Chokeberry

Grows well in: The Northeast and the Midwest.
Growth rate: Medium
Good for: Hedge, small space, rain garden, pollinators, and fall color
Leaves: Drops its leaves in winter
Native to: Eastern North America

Spacing for a hedge

VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Black Chokeberry, that’s about 4.5 ft apart, center to center.

Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.