Mulberry

[southlondongardener]

Has anyone ever grown this ?


According to
Chris Bowers & Sons - Mulberries

A long lived and very decorative tree that is self fertile. They prefer a sheltered, warm sunny position and are often grown against a sunny, south facing wall. The Mulberry is very slow growing and normally starts to fruit at 8 years old. If grown in containers they will fruit much earlier, often at 3-4 years old. Pruning is simply a matter of training and pruning as required for shape, and trimming the side shoots to 4 or 5 leaves in late July to encourage fruit spurs. Although very slow growing, they can, after many years, reach a height of 20'+ if grown in the open garden. The fruits are dark red, almost black, and resemble a very large raspberry, or a loganberry, with a delicious, but rather sharp flavour that is quite unique

Can it be grown in a container ? My only spot is north facing but I do live in sunnier south London.

[Flummery]

I've only ever seen Mulberry trees as mature specimens - they do grow HUGE. I don't know about pot growing them. You can pot grow apples but they are on dwarfing rootstocks. However, if the man says you can - or is he just trying to sell more? There's a fabulous one in the grounds of Tewkesbury Abbey and one in the garden of the slavery museum in Hull - Wilberforce House. It seems a pity not to let the tree grow to its full glory. Maybe someone here has one?

[lainey lou]

I've only ever seen huge, mature specimens too, they have several at Longleat that are massive. I'd love to know if they can be grown in pots as my Mum would love one, she says they taste amazing.

[Flummery]

They taste to me a bit like a gooseberry (but wirh raspberry overtones!). In Tewkesbury someone makes a jelly from them and sells it in the local deli type shop. Fabulous.

[lainey lou]

They taste to me a bit like a gooseberry (but wirh raspberry overtones!). In Tewkesbury someone makes a jelly from them and sells it in the local deli type shop. Fabulous.

sounds yummy!

[jeannine]

I'm a bit of a mulberry fanatic ever since I (pilferred) some berries from a tree at The Place for Plants (which is an amazing aboretum in East Bergholt that has a MASSIVE mulberry tree - they also sell them).

I've got a weeping mulberry in a large pot and one in a bed and they both fruited the first summer I had them and are delicious. I have to water the one in the pot a lot in summer.

Then I couldn't believe my luck when our council planted a standard mulberry in the park right next to our house - it's only been there two years and last summer it was covered in berries for weeks - it has much bigger fruits than my weepers (which must be on dwarfing rootstock)!

The berries are incredible but really, really messy - especially on the larger tree which has much more succulent fruits. You get purple fingers just from picking the first one but it's worth it.

I would really recommend them, I don't know why they're not more widely grown.

[Seahorse]

I want one now

[momol]

They taste to me a bit like a gooseberry (but wirh raspberry overtones!). In Tewkesbury someone makes a jelly from them and sells it in the local deli type shop. Fabulous.

I saw lot of them in the garden centre in NL but they were place in the ornamental tree group, now I know, it is edible...many thanks for the info . My next door neighbor has it too, she grew it agains her wall...very pretty whith it's fruits on !!!

Momol

[momol]

They taste to me a bit like a gooseberry (but wirh raspberry overtones!). In Tewkesbury someone makes a jelly from them and sells it in the local deli type shop. Fabulous.

I saw lot of them in the garden centre in NL but they were place in the ornamental tree group, now I know, it is edible...many thanks for the info . My next door neighbor has it too, she grew it agains her wall...very pretty with it's fruits on !!!

Momol

Ps. sorry, double clic !

[Flummery]

They are messy on the ground too, not just on your hands. I find that in public spaces people don't know what they are (so no-one eats them!). They leave that purple stain on paving slabs too!
Good to know they can be pot grown Jeannine - I wonder if the rootstock is different, as you suggest.

[Habanero]

I bought a small Mulberry tree last spring and immediately put it in to a pot. I guess it was about 3 foot tall when I bought it but it did not seem to grow much at all last year though it was healthy enough. I have no idea when I can expect to get some fruit off it :-(

I don't have room in my garden so it will remain in a big pot for the time being.....

I have never tasted Mulberry and never recall seeing one. I really would love to try some!

[southlondongardener]

I bought a small Mulberry tree last spring and immediately put it in to a pot. I guess it was about 3 foot tall when I bought it but it did not seem to grow much at all last year though it was healthy enough. I have no idea when I can expect to get some fruit off it :-(

I don't have room in my garden so it will remain in a big pot for the time being.....

I have never tasted Mulberry and never recall seeing one. I really would love to try some!

Where did you buy it from ? They are meant to be slow growing.

[Habanero]

I got it some shop on ebay for about £12 i think. I cannot remember the exact company but can probably find out if you are interested.

It arrived in good condition and grew lots of healthy leaves but did not seem to grow much in height at all. It is the red/black variety, not the less common white.

[southlondongardener]

If you could it would be kind although I think I will buy it from Chris Bowers

[jeannine]

Trees online have got weeping mulberries for £40, which is less than I paid for mine - as usula I got carried away in the garden centre and should have done more research!!! On the plus side I did get two or three bowls of fruit from the very first summer.

On page 83 of the latest GYO you can see my one behind the fleece Paul is holding - it looks pretty even in winter.