Blossom color: small, green, insignificant
Bloom time: early June

Fruit: Clusters of red fruit
Size: 2' to 3' tall and wide
Shape: Low, mounded shrub
Uses: Accent plant, shrub border or hedge. Attracts birds.
Hardiness: Zones 3-9
Native: to eastern North America

Red Sprite Winterberry is a compact shrub that stays small, making it easy to fit into a smaller landscape, mixed with perennials or as a low hedge. A female selection, this variety is covered in small greenish-white flowers in early summer that are followed by loads of 1/2-inch bright-red fruit that stay on the plant all winter. Birds are attracted to the fruit and will also nest in the shrub's dense branches. The red fruited-branches looks great in the garden, and as decoration in your home. Red Spring has deep-green foliage that is not bothered by disease or pests. To set fruit, 'Red Sprite' needs the male Winterberry, 'Jim Dandy', for pollination; 1 male can pollinate up to 6 nearby females. Winter hardy to Zone 3.

What you'll receive: 2-year, field-grown plants with 12 to 18-inch long stems and shipped bareroot (no soil or pot) and dormant (no foliage). Learn more about our plants.

Shipping: $0-$75=$12.00, $75.01-$125=$15, $125.01-$200=$20, >$200=10% of total. Shipped UPS Ground in spring from early April through mid May.

[Catalog #FS26]

About Winterberries: Winterberries are the "queens" of the fruiting shrub world when ranked for ornamental value. From early fall through winter, the branches are covered in bright-red fruits. The fruiting branches are great for decoration in the garden or in the house. These plants have multibranches, so clipping a few doesn't take away from the appearance of your mature plants. Or leave the branches for the birds since over 40 species of birds are known to eat the fruit, including: bluebirds, brown thrashers, cedar waxwings, flickers, gray catbirds, mockingbirds and robins. The dense branching also provides shelter, cover and nesting spots for birds.

The leaves of Winterberries are thick and dark green and contrast well with the red fruit. The foliage stays healthy all summer and isn't bothered by insects. The leaves drop off the plant in late fall to expose the beautiful berries. You'll need both male and female plants to produce fruits, with one male for up to 6 nearby females. Plant in sun or part shade. They like moist to wet, slightly acid soils. Winterberries are native to North America, no garden should be without them. Hardy from Zones 3 to 9.

Grows in full sun to part shade in moist, garden soil. Can tolerate wet conditions. Space 3 to 4-feet apart. To get berries, be sure to plant one male for every 6 nearby females. Berries will be on female plants.

• More growing tips

What's a "bareroot" plant?

"Bareroot" is a term that describes how a plant is shipped to you. A bareroot plant is not in a pot, and is usually dormant (not actively growing). See the photo to the right that shows what a bareroot rose looks like. The bareroot plants that we ship to you were harvested in the fall and placed in cold storage over the winter to keep them dormant. In the spring, we ship the bareroot plants to our customers, from early April through mid May.

Bareroot plants are easy to grow. We include planting instructions with your order. When you receive your plant, take it out of the packing material and place it in a bucket of water so that the roots are completely covered. Let the roots soak for 4 to 24 hours, then plant it in your garden. Full planting instructions with photos are available on our planting shrubs page.