Common Name: snowberry
Type: Deciduous shrub
Family: Caprifoliaceae
Native Range: Eastern North America
Zone: 3 to 7
Height: 3.00 to 6.00 feet
Spread: 3.00 to 6.00 feet
Bloom Time: June to July
Bloom Description: Pink
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Hedge
Flower: Showy
Attracts: Birds
Fruit: Showy
Other: Winter Interest
Tolerate: Deer, Drought, Erosion, Clay Soil, Dry Soil
Culture
Grow in average, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Best fruit production occurs in full sun. Adapts to a wide range of soils including poor ones. Prune as needed in late winter to early spring. Plants tend to sucker.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Symphoricarpos albus, commonly called snowberry, is a bushy, rounded, deciduous shrub that typically grows to 3-6' tall and as wide. It is native to dry rocky wooded slopes, banks and forests from Nova Scotia to British Columbia south to Oregon, New Mexico, Illinois and Virginia. Oblong-elliptic to rounded, dull green leaves (to 2" long) produce little fall color. Tiny, bell-shaped, pink flowers (to 3/16" long) bloom in clusters in the leaf axils in summer. Flowers are followed by clusters of globose berries (each to 1/2” diameter) that initially are pale green, but ripen to pure white by late summer to early autumn. Fruits remain attractive on the naked winter stems in large part because most birds do not find them appetizing.
Genus name comes from the Greek symphorein meaning bear together and karpos meaning fruit in reference to the fruits appearing in clusters.
Specific epithet means white for fruit color.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Anthracnose, leaf spot, powdery mildew, rust and berry rot may occur.
Uses
Shrub border, screen or hedge. Naturalize in open woodland areas. Because of suckering habit, plants may be useful for erosion control on slopes or banks.