Viking Black Chokeberry

Look closely around your city or town, and you'll likely start noticing Aronia bushes. They've got bold fall foliage and striking round, black berries! This multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub is the actual source of Aronia berries. They cost about $12 at the organic food store frozen.

No wonder professional landscape designers are "ga-ga" for this compact shrub for park plantings and commercial properties. Time-tested Viking Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa 'Viking Black') gives you attractive white flowers, wild fall color and edible superfruit in the fall.

Grow your own, and turn your land into an Edible Landscape. You get all the benefits of an ornamental shrub, with a productive harvest!

The show starts in spring. Glossy, dark green foliage fills out the spreading shrub in a full, vibrant display. Soon, bloom clusters of white flowers open above the verdant foliage. Don't bother trying to count all the beneficial pollinators, bees, and butterflies that visit, you'll lose track in the first few days.

Let Viking Black grace your landscape all growing season as an attractive texture plant. The flowers will be developing into your nascent harvest. Outstanding, incredibly dark purple berries begin to ripen at that time, too. You'll definitely notice these berries! And you better do it quickly or the birds will snap them up!

By late summer, Viking Chokeberry produces larger, sweeter, and more prolific berries. Use it in tough spots where you need to control erosion. It's tolerant of periodic drought and resists all but heavy deer pressure.

As the nights start to cool down, enjoy the spicy fall color of red, purple, and orange-hued foliage. Viking Black Chokeberry is one of the best cultivars available. It's quite simply a hardy shrub that's easy-care and offers so many benefits and seasonal interest.

Planting and Application:

Tart Chokeberries (please call them Aronia!) are a very rich source of antioxidants and phenolic content. In fact, research shows that they produce more than blueberries!

Get your health on with smoothies, make mead; bake into crisps, cakes and bars; or create savory meat sauces. Freeze them and sell them at farmer's markets! Like a dry glass of red wine, Aronia berries are filled with tannin. Experiment with sweeteners, and you may find the taste grows on you. Are the berries a bit much for your taste? No problem, just let your local birds enjoy the yearly harvest.

Plant several to accent a naturalized area or to create a focal point. Naturalize these durable shrubs where you want to control erosion. Define the edge of a sunny slope or embankment. Not minding some extra moisture, plant these shrubs in your Rain garden or by where the gutters drain.

Create an eye-catching mass planting, or long, low hedge. Create a bold display with a mass planting by spacing them 24 to 30 inches apart on center. They'll add ornamental appeal repeated in garden borders. Run them along the length of your front walk as part of a very modern foundation planting.

In a hurry? Plant closer together. You'll measure from the center of one to the center of the next.

Boost your food security with edible landscaping like Viking Black. Add Serviceberry, Hazelnut, Plum, and Elderberries to your landscape, as well. Nature Hills is proud to serve the needs of homeowners who want to get the most from their property. Be sure to study our blog posts on small space gardens and plants for pollinators.

• Showy White Flowers in Spring
• Four Seasons of Interest
• Feeds Butterflies & Songbirds
• Finely Toothed, Glossy, Dark-Green Leaves
• Edible, Large, Black Berries that Ripen in Late Summer
• Berries are Shown 344% Higher in Total Antioxidants Than Blueberries
• Leaves Turn Incredible Orange-Purple-Red Fall Color
• Use to Control Erosion
• Modern Selection of Native Shrub
• Gaining Popularity as a Plant for Commercial Properties

#ProPlantTips for Care:

Get the most fruit with full sun, or give them partial shade if you have to. They need at least four hours of sunlight a day. These adaptable plants take occasional wet soil, but can withstand periodic drought. For the best performance and fruit display, give your plants a medium amount of water on a regular basis. Mulch a three-inch layer over the top of the roots to keep them cool and moist. Pull the mulch back from the stems several inches.

Prune after the flowers are past. Remove crossing or damaged branches, tip pruning right above an outward-facing bud at a 45-degree angle. Maintain mature plants with a regular schedule of renewal pruning. Every 3 years or so, remove the oldest, thickest stems out to the ground and allow the younger stems to remain keeping the plants vigorous and blooming and fruiting well. In deer country, always apply a Deer Repellent spray on the first day you plant. Reapply according to the directions. Don't take chances with hungry deer around.

• Hardy in Full Sun or Partial Shade
• Can Survive Boggy Soils Near Ponds or Streams
• Easily Grown in a Wide Range of Soils
• Seldom Severely Damaged by Deer Browse
• Prune After Flowering

Aronia is an important native shrub that is rapidly gaining in popularity. It's certainly loved by birds and other wildlife. You'll be fighting design teams across the country for this year's inventory. Please hurry to establish your own native superfruit patch! Order your Viking Black Chokeberry today!