Showy Mountain Ash

A lovely small to medium sized ornamental tree, usually 20 to 25 feet high, but to 50 feet is possible. Its compound leaves have 11 to 15...Read More leaflets. It develops a good golden to red-purple fall color. Young bark is smooth and tan-gray with conspicuous lenticels that becomes scaly and brownish with age. Its white flower clusters are a little larger than the very similar American Mountainash of 4" diameter in late spring. The bright scarlet-red or orange-red furits are a little larger than the American species, being 2/5" in diameter, and are eaten by birds and small mammals an can be made into jelly and jams.. Grows in a large variety of soils of draining wet to well-drained. Dislikes hot summers and/or drought. Grows about 1 to 1.5 feet/year and lives about 25 to 50 years. Native to Newfoundland thru much of Ontario & Quebec, northern MN, northern and spots in central WI, Upper MI, northern NY, and New England. Grown by some far northern nurseries and planted in regular northern landscapes. Really for USDA Zones 2 to 6, not down to 9.

These trees earn their keep in a northern climate, and provide interest in all four seasons. The white flowers are very showy in spring,...Read More followed by large clusters of bright red berries in summer. By autumn, the leaves turn a bright red-orange and hide the berries. After the leaves drop off in winter, the berries stay on the tree and reappear to provide colour until spring. Birds, particularly bohemian waxwings, feed on the berries during winter. The coppery bark also adds interest.