Berryless Aronia arbutifolia 'Brilliantissima'

I have 4 Aronia growing in the same area, and they all get full sun.

My non-cultivar Aronia arbutifolia and Aronia melanocarpa are laden with berries right now, but my Aronia arbutifolia 'Brilliantissima' doesn't have a single berry on it even though it bloomed nicely this spring.

I'm wondering whether I have to buy another 'Brilliantissima' to cross pollinate it. Has anyone had good berry production from just one 'Brilliantissima'?

Did you happen to photograph any of these four plants in bloom, or take copious notes on dates of blooming?

Overlapping bloom time is quite helpful with any Rosaceae member plants. If your Red Chokeberry individuals didn't overlap in bloom time, then they couldn't cross-pollinate. Two identical individuals will likely not cross very well.

I suppose there are other reasons why one plant may not have set fruit - including frost/freeze damage, disease, and predation.

This is the only photo I could find of one of my Aronias in bloom; it's not much help, I know. Unfortunately, I didn't make any notes on the dates of blooming.

I'm pretty sure that the non-cultivars all bloomed at the same time, but it's quite possible that 'Brilliantissima' bloomed at another time. I suspect that non-overlapping bloom times might well be the problem; I guess I'd better be more observant next year!

Very handsome bloom pic!

It is an excellent habit to get into: noting bloom sequences, and not just for cross-pollination purposes. Having awareness of what blooms at the same time as other things, or before or after, is one of the staples of landscape design - just as surely as appreciating color, texture, form, etc.

Thanks!

I'll keep an eye on my Aronias this fall in the hope of confirming that I do have at least one A. arbutifolia. If all of the non-cultivars are A. melanocarpa, then I assume I would need to get another A. arbutifolia to pollinate 'Brilliantissima'.

Right now, all of the berries look like the ones in this photo. I think this photo actually shows all 4 shrubs. Three are growing into each other, and the berryless 'Brilliantissima' is behind them.




This message was edited Oct 26, 2015 10:29 PM

I wasn't aware that Aronia shrubs needed a pollination partner. Mine fruit heavy and I have 10 'Brilliantissima' individuals and 4 melanocarpa individuals.

Apparently they do! I thought they all had partners. It's possible that I don't have any other Aronia arbutifolia though.

Well in theory, mine shouldn't get berries then if they need a pollination partner since mine are all the exact same variety. But mine all get berries.

If your various Aronia taxa (you mentioned 14 plants, not all identical) overlapped in blooming period, it is likely there that you achieved cross-pollination.

AND - unless you personally performed propagation, you don't really know that you have identical plants. Probably do, but there's plenty of scullduggery out there in the profession and things are often NOT what they are labeled.

I must have different ones then because all got berries this year.

For all you Aronia-philes - berryful or berryless - you ought to hook up with this outfit:

Mt. Zion Orchards - http://www.mountzionorchard.com/

Look what they can do - and they don't even need a stepladder...

http://www.mountzionorchard.com/wine

My wife's mother LOVES wine. I just sent them an email to see if I could get a bottle shipped to me for a Christmas gift to her. Thanks for the link.

OOOh, I can have my berry, and drink it too!

If you all had dropped in on the 68th Annual Meeting of the Holly Society of America - just completed in Hunt Valley - you could have had a bottle or two to take home.

Not to mention the extensive array of exceptional Ilex that were auctioned off...

There's no chance that my birds will leave any Aronia berries for me to harvest for wine; I believe the berries were gone before winter last year!

The fruiting Aronias in my garden are suckering (I think - I have to look very carefully to tell NOID volunteers from parent plants), and I'll let them run rampant.

I think I'll just re-home 'Brilliantissima'; I don't want to deal with a non-performer that might work in someone else's yard.

I got to eat a couple of my melanocarpas before they were gone. I like the black ones better than the reds.