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Planting
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Seasonal yields
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Plant · P-563
Rowan
Sorbus aucuparia
Rowan is a small mountain tree that produces heavy autumn clusters of tart red-orange berries, best left to blet or catch a frost before they lose their raw bitterness and turn into good jam, jelly and preserve. Its flowers draw bees and butterflies by the dozen species, and its fruit is stripped fast by birds. It needs consistently cool summers - sustained heat leaves it short-lived and increasingly prone to fireblight and borers. Full sun gives the heaviest fruiting, and it copes well with wind, pollution and even coastal exposure.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 3–6
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moist
Vertical layer
Canopy- Soil pH
- 6–6
- Plant type
- Deciduous Tree
- Mature height
- 20–40 ft
- Mature spread
- 8–20 ft
- Plant spacing
- 13.1–19.7 ft
- Root type
- Fibrous-deep
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
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American Beech
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American Chestnut
Castanea dentata
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American Elm
Ulmus americana
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American Holly
Ilex opaca
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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