Snowberry

Snowberry: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Dense, low shrub of 1–2 m with thin, arching branches; spreads by suckers.

Leaf

Opposite, 2–5 cm, round to oval, untoothed (sometimes lobed on vigorous shoots), blue-green.

Bark

Thin, brown twigs that peel in strips.

Flower

Small pink bells from June to September, busy with bees and bumblebees.

Fruit

White, spongy berries (1–1.5 cm) that hang on into winter; poisonous.

Difference from Chenault coralberry

That one (Symphoricarpos × chenaultii) has smaller, pink to red berries.

Difference from wild privet

Wild privet has narrower leaves, white panicles and black berries.

Flowering: June–September · Pruning: February–March

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Chenault coralberry (Symphoricarpos × chenaultii): smaller, pink to red berries.
• Wild privet Ligustrum vulgare: narrower leaves, white panicles and black berries. Difference from wild privet

Why grow it?

• Grows where almost nothing else will: in deep shade, under trees, on dry or wet soil.
• Pink bells from June to September, good for bees and bumblebees all summer.
• White berries that hang on the bare twigs into winter.
• Tough and dense: its roots hold a bank or an awkward corner together.

Snowberry: where does it grow best?

• Sun, partial shade or deep shade: it tolerates everything.
• Any soil, dry or moist, acid or chalky.
• Allow 2 m width, and more: its suckers push further out every year.
• Not next to a border, and not in or near the wild: there it spreads and runs wild.

Light

Sun to shade

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Dry to wet

Size

1.5 m tall, 2 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Holly: Evergreen and shade-tolerant: together a dense border under trees.
• Common ivy: Covers the ground in the deep shade where snowberry grows.
• Lesser periwinkle: Evergreen ground cover with small blue flowers in spring.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Tolerates shade and suits planting under large trees such as: ginkgo, box elder, ash, honey locust, field maple, silver maple

Snowberry: when and how to plant it?

1. Choose a native shrub for the same spot instead: wild privet, holly or hazel don’t spread like this.
2. If you still plant a snowberry, do so from November to March, bare-root or from a pot.
3. Put a sturdy root barrier around the planting spot: it keeps the suckers in.
4. Don’t plant it where young children play: the berries are poisonous.

Care

Watering

Only in dry spells during the first year; never needed after that.

Feeding

Not needed: it grows on any soil.

Suckers

Every year, spade off the suckers that stray outside their spot; the younger they are, the easier.

Prunings

Never dump spaded-off suckers or prunings in the countryside or at a woodland edge: they take root easily.

Tip: Looking for a tough shrub for shade? Choose wild privet, holly or hazel: native, at least as robust, and they don’t run riot. If you already have a snowberry, keep it inside a root barrier.

Snowberry: when to prune it?

Pruning months: February–March.

When: End of winter.

How:

• Every year, cut the oldest stems off at ground level: the shrub stays young and dense.
• Spade off suckers that spread too far, roots and all.
• An overgrown shrub can be cut back to just above the ground; it will regrow.

Caution: Don’t leave spaded-off suckers lying on the ground: they readily root again.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Suckers

A rooted sucker takes easily, but usually you have too much snowberry rather than too little. Don’t propagate it for spots near the wild.

Snowberry: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• The white berries hang on well into winter; birds eat few of them.

Diseases and pests

• Spreading: Suckers pop up metres away, even among other plants. Spade them off every year or put in a root barrier.
• Running wild: Through garden waste and suckers it turns up in woods and on verges, where it forms dense thickets and crowds out the native undergrowth.
• Hard to get rid of: Cutting alone doesn’t help: dig the shrub out with as much root as possible and keep removing new shoots for a few years.

Through the year

• February: Pruning: remove the oldest stems, spade off suckers.
• March: Last month for pruning and planting.
• May: New suckers: spade them off while young.
• June: Flowering starts: pink bells for bees and bumblebees.
• August: Flowers and the first white berries at the same time.
• September: White berries; flowering comes to an end.
• November: Planting and spading off suckers.
• December: White berries on the bare twigs.

What can you use it for?

Garden and landscape

Tough, low shrub for shade and difficult spots; white berries in winter.

For wildlife

The small flowers are good for bees and bumblebees all summer long.

Caution: The berries are poisonous. Produces lots of suckers.

Good for wildlife

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Bumblebees

Nectar and pollen for bumblebees, also from deep flowers and early in spring.

Did you know?

• Children love stamping on them to hear them pop, hence their Dutch nickname ‘knalbessen’ (popping berries). They are poisonous to eat.
• In Europe it used to be widely planted as game cover in shooting woods; that is how it ran wild.
• Symphoricarpos means ‘fruits borne together’: the berries sit in tight little clusters.
• Symphoricarpos comes from the Greek symphorein, ‘to bear together’, and karpos, ‘fruit’: the berries sit packed together in clusters.
• Snowberry comes from North America. In Europe it was widely planted as cover for game birds such as pheasants.