Mountain Ash, Provides Seasonal Splendour

By Jos Van Hage

This time of year many of the trees take on a different look as shorter days and cooler temperatures cause green leaves to turn yellow, red, and orange.

Mountain ash (Sorbus) is one of those trees whose foliage turns color but it also has bright red/orange berries that distinguish it from other trees. It is a tree that adds beauty and interest to the landscape year round. In the spring it produces clusters of tiny white flowers, then during the summer it has the distinctive green, finely cut, fernlike foliage and in later summer it produces clusters of red/orange berries that hang on the branches well into winter, until the birds eat them.

There are several different varieties of Mountain Ash that all grow well in our Prince George zone 3 climate.

The ‘American Ash’ and ‘European Ash’ both are similar but the American Ash tends to grow shorter with a rounder shape then the taller and oval shaped European and the berries on the American are bright orange-red and the European berries are not as bright orange-red. The ‘Russian Ash’ is similar to the European mountain ash.

The ‘Columnar Ash’ is a nicely shaped, slow growing tree that has a narrow 6-8 foot width and grows around 20-25 feet tall making it good choice for a smaller space or yard. Also available is ‘Showy’ and it is the hardiest of all the mountain ashes, and is known for its long bloom time, is slow growing and grown for its flowers and showy dark green compound foliage.

The ‘Oak-leaf Mountain Ash’ is a little different as it has 3 inch long, oak-shaped, matte green, leaves with white undersides that are similar looking to those of the oak tree. It produces clusters of white flowers in spring and produces large red berries in late summer.

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