American Cranberry Bush

A Native Shrub with Edible Berries

The American Cranberry bush, also called “highbush cranberry” because of its upright growth habit, bears fruit that resembles commercial cranberries — in size, color, taste, and harvest time. But unlike “true cranberries,” which grow so low to the ground that you have to bend down to pick them, you can harvest berries at eye level from American Cranberry bush. The berries are ripe just in time for Thanksgiving; and as a bonus — when you purchase these shrubs, you’ll also enjoy their pretty flowers and fall leaf color!

Three Seasons of Color
When you invest in shrubs that enhance your landscape, you get more for your investment when you purchase plants that offer more than one benefit over multiple seasons. Spring, summer, and fall — American Cranberry bush has it all!

1. Pure-white flowers. American Cranberry bush is covered with showy, white, lacecap flowers in late spring to early summer that measure up to 3 inches across.

2. Vivid-red berries. As the berries ripen in fall (on 4- 5-year old plants), the color really pops with a dazzling end-of-the-season display.

3. Striking fall foliage. When American Cranberry bush leaves turn colors in autumn, they’re a rich shade of purplish-red.

A Closer Look
Even gardeners in Alaska will enjoy a harvest of berries from this cold-hardy deciduous shrub! It’s a perennial in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 3 through 7, and a northeastern and northwestern native plant. Although you’ll only need one plant to produce berries, more plants reward you with a larger harvest. Its dense growth and mature height of up to 12 feet give American Cranberry bush top billing as a deciduous hedge that offers privacy in summer and lets the sun’s warmth in after the leaves drop in autumn. And even if your taste buds don’t relish homemade cranberry sauce or jelly, here’s another reason to grow this native fruit — bird watchers plant American Cranberry bush simply to watch the birds feast on the berries!

Processing tip: If you want to make whole-berry cranberry sauce, be mindful that the berries contain seeds that will have to be removed or put through a sieve or food mill. As a seedless option, simply make cranberry jelly so you can strain the seeds and only use the extracted juice!