Arbutus unedo

Strawberry tree is another of my favourite evergreen plant, formerly classified as tender in C.E. continental climate, but we began a long-running trial where we test a group of Mediterranean plants for their hardiness. It started when we noticed that many macchia plants have to struggle with adverse conditions almost on daily basis such as less and less water year after year. The climate is changing and macchia plants both show their assets and do their best to adapt. The surprising, yet in the end understandable moment was that their resilience and ability to survive is also reflecting in their hardiness. This makes them exceptionally suited for milder parts of our climate (Central Europe) because along with resistance to drought, wind, heat, and poor soil they seem to benefit from current lack of water in the ground whose excess had always been a killer for tender plants. Therefore, some of these drought-tolerant macchia plants make a whole new group of desirable species even here. Arbutus unedo is one of them and we continue testing more and more varieties as they become available from breeders. So far, all of them we have trialed performed a miracle!

The species of strawberry tree was first described by Carl Linné in 1753. It makes evergreen, narrowly oval to obovate, 6-10 cm long, leathery leaves with serrated margins, more conspicuous closer to the tip. They are medium to dark green and glossy. The twigs are orange, reddish when young, and as the bark ages it becomes shredding and changes to a pastel mahogany color, peeling off in small flakes.

Arbutus belongs to heather family (Ericaceae) which is easy to tell looking at its flowers. They are urn-shaped, creamy white, composed in pendent racemes, and show up from autumn until late spring, and sporadically throughout summer, too. Meanwhile mature small, spherical, and edible fruit which is bright red when mature hence the name strawberry tree. It contains as much as 20% of sugars but the taste is rather dull so it is mostly used in preserves and liquors.

Strawberry tree grows moderately into an upright and slightly spreading shrub with a domed canopy. I saw beautiful specimen plants trained into small multistemmed trees which reveal their attractive bark. To do so, select 3-5 main branches as a strong framework, remove all laterals until the top and clip its canopy into a mushroom head every summer. Thus, you can achieve a beautiful Mediterranean-style jewel. In its natural habitat it can grow 8 m tall or even more, however, in C.E. climate it makes about half of that.

Grow it in extremely well-drained, humus rich soil in full sun or only light shade. Slightly acidic soil enhances the depth of green colour in leaves but is not essential. Just avoid compacted or water-logged ground where the roots may rot. It will need even moisture after transplanting but once established stay away from watering. We have not been able to observe its hardiness under all possible conditions but so far it has withstood -17 °C here which makes it suitable for at least USDA 7 without any protection. However, North American growers plant it up north to zone 6 claiming it can withstand -23°C without damage. Choose older plants for growing in zone 6 and provide good mulch for winter. It is disease free and as far as pests vine weevil attacks it rarely.

Last update 22-02-2024