Mulberry Trees

Mulberry trees (Morus nigra & Morus alba) are beautiful and highly productive fruiting trees. A mature Black Mulberry Tree makes a real garden centrepiece with its round head and attractive bark. The heart shaped leaves always look good and mature specimen is unmistakable, particularly when viewd from beneath where the red and black fruits stand out against the foliage.

The White Mulberry (Morus alba) is a more slender and upright species and makes an attractive fruiting specimen. The oval leaves of this variety are the staple food of silkworms, established White Mulberry Trees will produce crops of Mulberries ripening in September that resemble white raspberries that often mature to a reddish pink colour (sometimes darker, these trees are grown from seed and so there is always potential for some genetic variation). The fruits are slightly more tart than those of its black cousin but still very useful in the kitchen.

 

All Mulberry Trees are self fertile, a second mulberry tree is not required for pollination. Mulberry trees are grown on their own roots (not grafted) and will slowly grow to a height of 5-10 metres.

The Mulberry was brought into the country by the romans, the fruits have a slightly acidic, tart flavour, but can be eaten as fresh fruit from the tree or used for culinary purposes including Jams, jellies and Wine. The tradition is to shake the Mulberry tree and collect the fruits from the ground, the fruits can heavily stain the hands if picked by hand.

Mulberry Trees makes a great addition to a garden – both beautiful and productive, and the versatile fruits do have a certain exclusivity, they don’t travel well and so you are very unlikely to ever see them in a supermarket!

When planting a young Mulberry Tree we always recommend using rootgrow to give it the very best start in your garden.