Golden Acre Home & Garden Centre's Plant Library

Other Names:  American Cranberrybush

Description:

A highly desirable garden shrub, featuring showy clusters of pure white pinwheel flowers in spring, brilliant red fruit and superb fall color, golden stems; denser and more compact than the species, hardy and adaptable, excellent for foundation plantings

Ornamental Features

Alfredo Highbush Cranberry features showy white lacecap flowers held atop the branches in late spring. It has dark green deciduous foliage which emerges brick red in spring. The serrated lobed leaves turn an outstanding red in the fall. It produces scarlet berries from late summer to late winter. The smooth gray bark and gold branches add an interesting dimension to the landscape.

This plant is primarily grown as an ornamental, but it's also valued for its edible qualities. The small round sour berries are most often used in the following ways:

• Preserves

Landscape Attributes

Alfredo Highbush Cranberry is a dense multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It is a good choice for attracting birds to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Alfredo Highbush Cranberry is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

Alfredo Highbush Cranberry will grow to be about 6 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 6 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 years or more.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selection of a native North American species.