White Snowberry is a rounded and bushy shrub with small leaves on arching stems. Clusters of small bell-shaped flowers begin to bloom in early summer, followed by attractive snow white berries later in the season. The clustered fruits remain …
White Snowberry is a rounded and bushy shrub with small leaves on arching stems. Clusters of small bell-shaped flowers begin to bloom in early summer, followed by attractive snow white berries later in the season. The clustered fruits remain attractive on the naked stems, all winter long.
This adaptable native shrub tolerates a variety of conditions and soil types, including clay, but the best flowering and fruiting will occur in full sun. Symphoricarpos albus spreads by suckering rhizomes to form a colony. Brushy shelter for summer birds and important berries in the middle of winter are important wildlife features. It is also a larval host plant for numerous lepidoptera including the Vashti Sphinx, the Snowberry Clearwing, and the Elegant Sphinx.
Planting and Cultivation Notes
Snowberry flowers are self-fertile and only one plant is needed for bountiful fruiting.
Native plants can be grown outside of their native range in the appropriate growing conditions. This map shows the native range, as well as the introduced range, of this species.
Plant Shipping Rates: for plant orders up to $50 the shipping amount is $9.95. For plant orders from $50.01 and over, the shipping rate is 20% of the total plant cost.
Spring plant-shipping begins on April 1, 2024. May 17 is the last day to order plants for spring shipping.
During checkout, you will be asked to choose a Shipping Week for your plant delivery, from the dates that are available. The week that you choose will be included in your order confirmation email. When your plants ship you will receive an email that includes your tracking information.
The fruit of White Snowberry is an important winter food source for quail, pheasant, and grouse, but is considered inedible/toxic to humans. The berries are said to have a very unpleasant flavor and contain the alkaloid chelidonine, as well as other alkaloids. Ingesting the berries can cause symptoms such as vomiting, dizziness, and slight sedation in children.
Is Snowberry deer resistant?
In hard times deer will browse on most anything, but Snowberry is typically deer resistant, with varying reports of palatability. It may be browsed by deer but not extensively, and is not severly damaged by it.
What size is this shrub when shipped?
Our potted shrubs are between 1' and 2' high when shipped. The root is well developed and the plants have established branching. This shrub is in a one gallon (or #1) container, which is approximately 7" deep x 6.5" wide at the top.
Should this shrub be planted in spring or fall?
This shrub can be successfully planted in either spring or fall. See Tips for Planting in Fall for more informtation about planting perennials (including shrubs) in the fall. You may also be interested in How to Plant Shrubs, in our Resource & Guides pages.
What is the growth rate of White Snowberry?
White snowberry has a rapid growth rate. An individual plant can reach its mature size (height) in 2 or 3 years. The multi-stemmed shrub will continue to spread by suckers to form a thicket.
How aggressively does this shrub spread? Will I be able to reasonably keep up with clipping back most of the suckers?
In general, snowberry does sucker pretty agressively. However, if you are mowing around it, it's not much of a problem.
Ease of control will depend somewhat upon where it is planted. White Snowberry takes advantage where it can, and will spread agressively into areas that are not well established with other plants. But being surrounded with a dense planting of well established plants can slow it down to a manageable degree.
It does take some planning and consideration to use this plant in a controlled setting. This shrub is best in areas where it is allowed to spread somewhat. It works very in a dense hedge planting.
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