Symphoricarpos albus
Snowberry
Common names: Knallerbse
At a glance
- Light
- Partial shade
- Hardiness
- Hardy
- Pruning
- Feb–Mar
- Flowering
- Jun–Aug
Photo: Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
The Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) is a hardy hedge shrub that produces subtle pink flowers from June to August and impressively white, waxy berries in autumn and winter. It spreads densely through runners, making it suitable as a groundcover under trees or as a loose wild hedge. The berries are mildly toxic; keep them out of reach of children and pets, though accidental ingestion usually causes only mild symptoms. Birds readily eat the fruits and disperse the seeds.
Care instructions
Snowberry is tolerant of both sunny and partially shaded sites, even under light canopy. A well-drained, moderately fertile soil is sufficient; avoid waterlogging. Because it spreads aggressively via runners, consider root pruning or a rhizome barrier to control its spread. Prune the shrub in early spring (late February to mid-March, week 9 to 11) by cutting back heavily to encourage dense growth. Once established, it is winter-hardy and requires minimal care or additional watering.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
FloweringJun–Aug
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
well-drained, humus-rich, lean, dry
Snowberry is undemanding about soil and also tolerates lean, stony ground. It feels most at home in free-draining, humus-rich soil; you should avoid waterlogged sites. Once established, it takes even short dry spells in its stride.
Feeding
Light feeder
As a robust wild shrub, snowberry needs practically no feeding. A trowelful of compost in spring around the root zone is quite enough as gentle nourishment. On lean soils you can also apply a thin mulch layer of leaves or bark humus, which keeps moisture in and releases nutrients slowly.
Pruning
Snowberry tolerates a hard cut-back well and reliably regrows. In late winter, cut old, bare shoots out close to the ground, so that the shrub stays open and healthy. If you want to slow its spread by root suckers, it is best to cut these off at the same time.
Overwintering
Snowberry is fully hardy and needs no special protection. The white berries often stay on the twigs well into winter and are a lovely sight against the snow. Freshly planted shrubs appreciate a mulch layer over the root zone in their first winter.
Propagation
Methods
- Cuttings
- Division
- Offsets
The easiest way to propagate snowberry is by root suckers, which it forms by itself. In spring or autumn, dig up a rooted sucker at the edge of the plant and plant it in its new spot. Hardwood cuttings from one-year-old shoots, cut in late summer, also root reliably. If you have a dense clump, you can divide it in early spring and replant the pieces straight away.
For your garden
Grow Snowberry yourself
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