Golden Acre Home & Garden Centre's Plant Library

Other Names:  American Cranberrybush

Description:

A truly magnificent four-season native shrub; exquisite clusters of pure white pinwheel flowers in spring, brilliant red fruit and good fall color, golden stems; hardy and adaptable, grows quite large, an excellent specimen, makes a fine flowering screen

Ornamental Features

Highbush Cranberry is covered in stunning white lacecap flowers held atop the branches in late spring. It features an abundance of magnificent scarlet berries from late summer to late winter. It has dark green deciduous foliage which emerges brick red in spring. The large serrated lobed leaves turn an outstanding red in the fall. 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 round sour berries are most often used in the following ways:

• Preserves

Landscape Attributes

Highbush Cranberry is a 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.

Highbush Cranberry is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

Highbush Cranberry will grow to be about 10 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 8 feet. It tends to be a little leggy, with a typical clearance of 2 feet from the ground, 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. While it is considered to be somewhat self-pollinating, it tends to set heavier quantities of fruit with a different variety of the same species growing nearby.

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 species is native to parts of North America.