Round red berries shaped like strawberries hang beside evergreen leaves and bark that peels away in long vertical slabs of colour: the strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) earns its place as a hedge or standalone shrub, and its fruit makes good jam. Give it a well-lit spot and free-draining soil, and it grows quickly with almost no care.
| Name | Arbutus unedo |
|---|---|
| Family | Ericaceae |
| Type | shrub |
| Height | 6 ½ to 16 feet (2 to 5 meters) |
| Exposure | full sun, part sun |
| Soil | ordinary |
| Foliage | evergreen |
| Flowering | late summer to late autumn |
| Harvest | late summer to late autumn |
Planting, pruning and caring for your strawberry tree will ensure the proper development of your shrub.
Fall is the best season to plant a strawberry tree but you can still plant it without dire consequence until spring, as long as you are able to avoid frost spells.
For hedges, space the trees at least 32 inches (80 cm) apart.
Everything this shrub asks for falls into four short jobs spread across the year. The table below shows when each one happens and what decides its success.
| Job | When | What matters |
|---|---|---|
| Planting | Early autumn, and up to spring | Autumn is best, later planting works if frost spells are avoided |
| Pruning | Spring | Never in autumn, or the winter berries are cut away |
| Watering | Summer | Only needed for specimens grown in pots |
| Harvest | Late summer to late autumn | Pick berries very red and slightly giving to the touch |
| Mulching | Before cold weather | Keeps weeds down in summer and protects roots in cold winters |
Apart from these, the shrub needs no fertiliser and very little attention.
Very easy to care for, the strawberry tree grows quickly when properly settled in and requires almost no care.
Spring is when strawberry trees are pruned.
Avoid pruning in fall, because you would be pruning off the magnificent berries that form and stay on the tree over winter.
Strawberry trees are shrubs that don’t require much water, except for specimens grown in pots.
The berries are ready for harvest when very mature, which is to say very red and slightly giving to the touch.
Typical uses are strawberry tree fruit jam, candied fruits, as well as syrup and liquor. When eaten raw, strawberry tree berries don’t really have a significant taste.
The strawberry tree, with scientific name Arbutus unedo, is a very beautiful shrub that offers beautiful edible fruit after the blooming.
Its scientific name Arbutus unedo, means “one-time shrub” in latin.
Easy to care for, it adapts to all soil types, either in beds or in hedges, or in pots or garden boxes for a terrace.
You may plant it as a standalone and also as part of a hedge to decorate your hedge in winter thanks to its ornamental berries.
The strawberry tree is also a tree that boasts beautiful bark that comes of in long, vertical slabs of different colors.
Perfect to decorate a winter garden!
Read also on shrubs:
No need to add any fertilizer, but it is a good idea to mulch the base of the tree to avoid weed growth in summer and protect roots when winters are cold.
