PlantFiles: Black Chokeberry
Aronia melanocarpa

Spring flowers and attractive fall color and fruit give this shrub good ornamental value for the shrub border. Also effective grouped or massed in native plant gardens, open woodland or naturalized areas where its colonial growth habit need not be restricted. Ability to withstand wet conditions makes it suitable for growing along ponds, streams or water gardens.

Plant in full sun to part shade. Best fruit production in full sun. Gets 3 to 6 feet high with a spread of 3 to 6 feet.

Blooms in May with showy white flowers. Showy, edible berries that attract birds. Deer and rabbits don't like it much. Tolerant of wide range of soils, including both dry and boggy. Low maintenance. Will naturalize - spreads by root suckers to form colonies.

Native to Eastern North America.

My experience is that this plant needs moist soil, especially if in full sun. When small it also needs TLC, but doesn't everything?

This plant is very lovely due to it's elegant, upright growth habit. It is growing in a narrow space between my house and driveway as a foundation plant. It sends up new shoots and branches every spring, but is not invasive and is easily contained through simple pruning. It has pretty green leaves throughout the spring and summer, striking red foliage in fall, and the dark purple/black berries are beautiful throughout the winter. The berries are edible and supposedly have more antioxidants than a blueberry, though the variety I am growing do not have any flavor at all. However, I found they can be crushed and cooked with sugar to make a very lovely, dark purple dessert topping. Some European varieties have been bred for flavor and culinary use.

Multiple references, including USDA and taxonomic references, indicate that Aronia melanocarpa is NOT drought tolerant. In my experience, it is adapated to lower rainfall areas (we get roughly 27 inches/year mostly in summer) and does well in the landscape. It obviously can take some moisture stress without loss of fruit or leaves.

This plant grows in nearly any environment, although it prefers sun over shade. The flowers, which open in late spring, are beautiful. The fruit is eaten by several varieties of birds.