How to Grow: Mulberries

We mostly know mulberries from the children’s nursery rhyme. Many gardeners avoid them because mulberries can grow up to 50 feet tall and the black fruits can stain walkways and houses. That’s a shame, because by selecting different varieties you can have a mulberry tree that stays manageable and is non-staining. The fruits have the flavor of a sweet blackberry and are good in pies, juiced, or baked in muffins. By selecting dwarf or weeping varieties, mulberries fit perfectly in a foodscape.

How to Use in Foodscaping

Mulberries are mostly hardy in USDA zones 5 to 9. Plant large mulberry trees in a meadow or yard away from the house or areas where the fruits may stain. Dwarf and weeping varieties can be planted in a mixed shrub or tree border or in a perennial garden as a specimen shrub or small tree.

Attractive Varieties

Black mulberries (M. nigra) produce the most flavorful fruit but are hardy to only zone 6 and not as widely adapted. Most available varieties are crosses of red mulberries (M. rubra) and white mulberries (M. alba) such as ‘Illinois Everbearing’ and ‘Silk Hope’. These are large trees. For dwarf varieties that stay less than 20 feet tall, try the 6-foot tall ‘Dwarf Giraldi’, 20 foot tall ‘Shangri-La’ (hardy on zones 7-9), and the weeping mulberry that tops out around 10 feet tall. These all have black fruits. A tall, white, non-staining, fruiting variety is ‘Sweet Lavender’.

Good Companions

Large mulberry trees are best grown along the forest edge or in a meadow. However, dwarf varieties fit well in the landscape. Consider planting dwarf trees with other small fruiting trees, such as crabapple and cherry or with flowering trees, such as dogwoods and crape myrtle. Plant weeping varieties in a children’s garden with other edibles such as currants and gooseberries. Weeping mulberries also look great in a perennial flower border as a neutral backdrop to colorful phlox, coneflower, and rudbeckia flowers.

Planting

Plant mulberry trees in spring in full to part sun location on well drained, compost amended soil. They’re forgiving of poor soil conditions. Space large trees at least 30 feet apart and smaller trees 10 to 15 feet.

Growing

Mulberries are easy to grow. Fertilize in spring with compost and mulch to keep the soil evenly moist. Prune young trees in late winter to develop strong structural branches. To keep tall varieties in bounds, consider summer pruning to cut back the branches and make the tree more of a rounded shape. Mulberries have few pests other than birds. Usually a large tree will produce more mulberries than you and the birds can eat, but for dwarf and weeping types, cover the trees with netting during fruiting.

Harvesting

Mulberries will often drop from the tree when ripe. Place sheets under a tree and shake the limbs to harvest large quantities of the berries or hand pick mulberries once they turn the mature color for that variety. Use them for cooking in pies and making juice. Mature fruits can also be dried for winter use.