Showy Mountain Ash

 Small Deciduous Tree with Ornamental Features

The Showy Mountain Ash is a small, understory tree with ornamental features. Plant one as a specimen tree in your front yard, or use one as a small shade tree.

Your Showy Mountain Ash is just that—showy!

It grows to 30 feet in height with a 25 foot spread, and has an open, rounded crown. The leaves have a lovely, tropical appearance. The dark green leaves have grey green undersides which playfully flutter in the sunlight as it catches the contrasting shades.

Spring brings six inch flat clusters of ¼-inch, five petaled flowers. The delicate, white blooms stand out like tiny white bridal bouquets amid the tree’s branches.

When summer arrives, those flowers will have become orange-red fruit, providing a stunning accent to the green, tropical-look of the leaves. The berries appear in clusters on the tree, and will even persist well after the leaves have dropped for the season.

Your Mountain Ash becomes more interesting with age. The smooth, grey bark of its youth will turn rough and scaly with age, giving your tree more definition and interest in the winter months after its leaves have gone.

As your tree matures and its production increases, you’ll be able to experiment with the tiny berry-like fruit. They are very acidic raw, but birds and other animals love them. The fruit is also sometimes made into jelly, and parts of the tree have also been used medicinally.

All in all, the Mountain Ash is a “showy” tree in any season and will be an asset for your landscape.

* Spring flowers
* Edible fruit
* Unique foliage