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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
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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. Its deep-green foliage 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.
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: 1-4 plants=$11.00; add $1.50 for
each additional plant over 4 plants. 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.
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.
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