Chokeberry Ground Hug
* Common name: Dwarf chokeberry Ground Hug
Chokeberry in flower, left, and with its fall foliage, right.
* Botanical name: Aronia melanocarpa
* What it is: Ground Hug is a dwarf version of the Pennsylvania native black chokeberry bush, offering this shrub’s multi-season interest in a very compact package.
Plants flower white in spring, then the glossy green leaves turn a fiery red in early fall, followed by bird-attracting pea-sized black fruits. Leaves then drop for winter.
* Size: Grows about two feet tall and two-and-a-half to three feet wide – much smaller than the species’ usual five- to six-foot size. Plants colonize by creeping root shoots but not aggressively.
* Where to use: Chokeberry is a versatile plant that usually does well in dry soil or wet and full sun or part shade.
Its many uses include rain gardens, bird gardens, edging along a wood line or sidewalk, and front-of-border positions in eastern, western, or southern house foundations. Plant a few outside a window if you like to watch birds feeding on native fruits.
* Care: Improve the soil with compost before planting and keep new plants consistently damp the first two years to help the roots establish. Then water is needed only in hot, dry spells.
Fertilizer is usually not needed, but a spring scattering of a granular, balanced fertilizer won’t hurt. No pruning needed so long as size is OK. If pruning is needed, do it sparingly at the end of winter… and be aware that each cut means fewer flowers and therefore fewer fall fruits.
Also be aware that deer sometimes browse on the flowered stems in early spring.
Shoots coming up from roots around the base of the plant can be dug and transplanted to make new plants in spring.
* Great partner: Any upright, needled evergreen makes a good backdrop. Dwarf goldenrod or dwarf reblooming daylilies are good perennial partners that bloom gold/yellow as chokeberry’s leaves are turning red.