Many gardeners today want to use native plants in their gardens. In some areas non-native garden plants have escaped into surrounding natural areas, causing problems. Choosing native bushes means no problems like that, but sometimes we also want more traditional garden features, like hedges – so what native plants are good for making hedges? We have a great choice for you – the Low Scape Hedger® Aronia. This tough and easy-to-grow bush is a selection of the native black chokeberry that has a tight, upright pattern of growth, making it really easy to create hedges up to 5 feet tall. You can clip it as tight as you want, or leave it as a more natural hedge – your choice. The spring display of white flowers, plus great fall colors or oranges and reds, adds lots of interest through the year – this isn’t just another boring green shrub. Plus, it’s super-easy to grow in a wide range of garden conditions, from dry to wet and sun to shade. Trouble-free, attractive, resists heat and cold, and it’s native – who could ask for anything more?

Growing the Low Scape Hedger® Aronia

Size and Appearance

The Low Scape Hedger Aronia is an upright deciduous shrub, with a neat, tight vertical form that makes it a natural for hedges or anywhere you need a taller plant that doesn’t take up a lot of room. The branches grow vertically without spreading out much, and many branches grow from low down, making a bushy plant right to the ground. When leafless in winter the attractive bark – smooth, slightly glossy and reddish-brown to gray – is a pleasant feature. The 4 inch long leaves are oval and smooth, with a glossy surface and a dark green color in spring and summer. In fall they turn bright shades of reds and oranges, creating a feature that will brighten your fall garden.

In spring, after the new leaves grow, beautiful clusters of white flowers develop all over this lovely bush. They are almost ½ inch across, with white petals and up to 10 flowers in each cluster. The profusion of bloom makes a lovely display, and their soft honey fragrance is a delight. Bees and other insects will visit to gather pollen and nectar, helping your local insect populations. The petals fall cleanly and since no fruit develops on this plant the flower stems quickly disappear.

Using the Low Scape Hedger® Aronia in Your Garden

This shrub is a great choice for any natural part of your garden, and anywhere you want easy, attractive plants, no matter what kind of garden you have. It’s perfect for hedges of any size between 2 and 5 feet tall, and for mass planting wherever you need trouble-free bushes. Use it to screen utility areas, or separate one part of the garden from another. Fill awkward corners, or spaces left by plants that didn’t work out. It doesn’t even need trimming to keep looking great, and it doesn’t sucker or spread. It grows about 12 inches a year, so within a very short time you have a good-sized shrub or hedge – with no trouble at all. Space plants 3 feet apart to grow a solid hedge in a short time.

Hardiness

Few plants grow so well across such a large part of the country – all they way from chilly zone 3 to mild zone 9.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

The Low Scape Hedger Aronia grows in a wide range of conditions, from full sun to near-full shade. It will even grow in the dappled shade beneath trees in areas that are hard to fill. It also grows in most soils, and it’s especially useful in damp ground, where many plants don’t grow, as well as in dry areas, showing moderate resistance to drought.

Maintenance and Pruning

The Low Scape Hedger Aronia is a very low-maintenance plant, and pests or diseases are very rare. Deer and rabbits are hard to predict, and if you have a lot they might chew on some flower buds, but they almost never bother with the leaves or stems, so little damage is done. An annual trim after blooming will be enough to keep your hedge neat, but you can trim more often if you want super-neat. Always trim hedges narrower at the top than at the bottom, with the sights sloping inwards a little. This keeps your hedge green right to the ground.

History and Origin of the Low Scape Hedger® Aronia

The Low Scape Hedger Aronia is a form of the black chokeberry, Aronia melanocarpa. This plant is native to America, and you might find it anywhere from Newfoundland west to Minnesota and south as far as Missouri, Tennessee, and Georgia. Although it is typically found in bogs, wetlands and wooded areas, it also grows in more open places, on drier soil, which is why it is so versatile in the garden.

The University of Connecticut has an active plant breeding program at their Storrs campus. There, Bryan Connolly was working on the different species of Aronia, with Dr. Mark Brand. In 2010 they crossed together a plant of Aronia they had developed(‘UC012’) with an interesting relative called ‘Viking’. That plant was developed in Russia in the 1920s and it is a hybrid of Aronia and Sorbus (mountain ash) called x Sorbaronia mitschurinii. Among the seedlings they grew was an outstanding, vigorous plant with a strong upright form – perfect for hedges. In 2018 it was patented as ‘UCONNAM166’. This is the plant now made available as Low Scape Hedger® by Spring Meadow Nursery of Grand Haven, Michigan, under their Proven Winners® brand.

Buying the Low Scape Hedger® Aronia at The Tree Center

Go native and grow a great hedge – all at the same time. For trouble-free hedges and easy shrub growing, you can’t beat the versatile Low Scape Hedger® Aronia. Order now, because everyone wants easy gardening, so these great shrubs won’t be around for long.