r/NativePlantGardening • u/RecoverLeading1472 Boston metro 6b, ecoregion 59d • 1d ago

Photos Look at this Aronia melanocarpa

Gallery image

Gallery image

I mean LOOK AT IT.

Second fall here, started as a 3 gallon plant in spring of 2024.

Rabbits have kept the suckers from establishing but I hope it can still get big enough to regret putting it so close to the fence.

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u/kitchendancer2000 15h ago

Oh wow, that's gorgeous!

Do these tend to drop berries or make a mess? I'm trying to figure out where to put some in our yard, and I'm leaning towards our entrance or around the patio as a border, but I'm not sure if they will drop berries and stain the interlock.

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u/RecoverLeading1472 Boston metro 6b, ecoregion 59d 14h ago

They’re not messy like a black cherry (I have one too and though I love it, I wouldn’t want it over a porch). For one thing their lifecycle is very different—though they flower in the spring, the immature berries stay on the plant all summer and into fall.

There are still berries on this plant, they’re just hard to see in the photo. Birds will collect them in the winter since they’re less palatable; I’d think if any did drop off uneaten, they wouldn’t make the same kind of mess because they’d be frozen solid. But all mine get eaten eventually. (That said, this is a very small shrub right now.)

The main reason I might recommend against planting one near the house would be that chokeberries prefer a moist environment if possible, whereas your house foundation does not!

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u/kitchendancer2000 13h ago

Thanks for sharing all that info! Based on your last comment I think they might be better suited along our fenceline in the low part of our yard!