Black Chokeberry 'Morton'

Trouble-free, airy (mostly bare toward the base), somewhat slow growing.

Small-white flowers in early to mid-May in the Ph...Read Moreiladelphia area. The fruits always disappear quickly after turning black in the summer but I haven't noticed which birds or animals eat them.

Colorful fall foliage. No real winter interest.

Spreads slowly.

Another good cultivar of a handsome shrub. This species can grow in low, wet areas or on dry, sandy hills in the wild in its native range...Read More of the northeastern US and southeastern Canada. This cultivar was selected at Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, and named 'Morton,' and the nursery organization of Chicagoland Grows that worked with them also named it 'Iroquois Beauty' for the market place. The seed in the arboretum's collection originally came from a bog habitat in Kane County, IL, to the northwest of there. It is a lower shrub that is supposed to only about 2 to 3 feet high x 4 to 5 feet wide, but plants often get bigger than what nurseries say as time goes on. The nursery evaluation was for plants no more than ten years old. I saw a mass planting in June 2015 at the large parking main lot on the east side of Morton Arboretum where the plants were more like about 3 to 4 feet high. This shrub develops a good red fall color. (Young chokeberry plants can be attacked by rabbits in winter; screen them off until they get big. Rabbits like to eat the big red buds on my Red Chokeberry shrubs in winter if they are low enough.) Birds do like to eat the black fruit in late summer into early winter, if the fruit lasts that long, it depends on conditions.

The local rabbit population loves this plant. One got cut down to 8" this winter, which saved me the trouble of my spring pruning! My t...Read Morehree 'Morton' bushes reached 4' in their first year planted.