We are excited to offer another outstanding native plant dividend to our members this year. Aronia melanocarpa ‘Viking’ is a cultivar black chokeberry with multi-season interest and chock full of attractive benefits for the garden and the gardener. Large clusters of white flowers erupt on the shrub in early spring, lasting for a reasonable 3 to 4 weeks and attracting many beneficial insects. The emerging dark green leaves that follow develop a lovely gloss that hint to the plants’ in bred drought tolerance. In the fall, the leaves turn brilliant colors ranging from a deep purple to red to orange. The foliage then provides a vivid backdrop to a profuse display of plump blackish purple fruits. As an added bonus, the black chokeberries are edible and are high in vitamins and antioxidant qualities. Cooking makes them more palatable so they can be used to make tea, syrup, jams, and juice. The shiny pomes of berries become appealing to many birds too.

We hope you’ll enjoy your black chokeberry, Aronia melanocarpa ‘Viking’. It can be planted in full sun to part shade or woodland edge. ‘Viking’ is tolerant of many soils conditions from dry to wet and loam to clay and grows 3’ to 6’ tall and wide and is pest and disease resistant.