Re: Snowberry

Thanks for the heads-up. Now I know why snowberry is hard to find.
I love the idea of a pieris, but I'm not sure this soil (which is largely
granite chips and compost, plus store-bought top soil) is acid enough. (I
could, of course, test the soil--but somehow I never do.) I also wonder if
about two hours of direct light a day (late morning to early afternoon) is
enough for blooms to happen. What about leucothoe--is that more shade-tolerant?
Nancy Stedman, NYC

At 12:07 PM 7/10/2004 -0400, you wrote: 
In a message dated 7/10/04 8:51:41 AM Eastern Daylight Time, stedman@RCN.COM
writes:


<<Anyone have any experience growing Symphoricarpos albus or related species?>
>

Snowberries will grow and do well in deep shade but they will not bloom and
fruit without sun.  They will however, and this is what prompts me to write
this note, establish themselves in time and sucker all over your garden.  Only
when used as hedges and kept in line by the lawnmower should you plant these
shrubs.  If you have an old garden and you already have one of these
menaces, so
be it but it you are planting anew, why put in something that will cover a
half acre all by itself in time.

There are so many shrubs that do not sucker, do think carefully about those
that do.  If you are an avid gardener and keep you soils fertile, these
monster
plants will take advantage of your good soils and crowd out non-suckering
plants.  A little research will save you years of snowberry sprouts.  Also
have a
good long look at the berries.  They are not so great looking like some sort
of ugly growth on the plants in the fall.  Of  course, this last comment is my
opinion and may be colored by the trouble the plants have caused here over
the years.

Those berry articles you read every fall and the handsome pix hardly ever
tell you the blooms that precede the berries are not much to look at and the
shrubs are generally coarse and unattractive.  Exept hollies from that
comment.

Claire Peplowski
NYZ zone 4

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