Red Mulberry Tree

At Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, they have a few specimens; I have seen two; one is still very young in the Northern Illinois Coll...Read Moreection and another is not full grown and is shaded by bigger trees in the Outpost Wild Garden. The leaves are 3 - 6" long x 2.5 - 4" wide, of a rough texture on top with veins forming a conspicuous network and should have some soft hairiness below. Most leaves are without lobes, but some are very deeply lobed. (The so called White Mulberry was introduced from China and it has taken over everywhere, and some trees do have white fruit, but most trees bear edible, purple fruit of this introduced species, and it has shiny, smooth leaves where some leaves are lobed, but not deeply so.) The native Red grows in rich, moist soils of pH 6.3 to 8.0 and can tolerate some shade, and is a taller tree more open with a more irregular habit. It bears edible, purple fruit that are 3/4 to 1.5" long. It grows about 2 to 2.5 feet/year and lives about 75 to 125 years. I have not yet officially recognized a wild Red Mulberry, so it is often infrequent or rare in its native range in eastern North America. It used to be more common, but something, as perhaps a bacterial disease, has reduced its population. It is usually not in urban or suburban areas, but in more natural, less disturbed areas; and it usually is widely scattered around and not in colonies. There are some hybrids between the two species of White or Common Mulberry and Red Mulberry.

Yummy Yummy Yummy. Great little tree; fast growing fill in the landscape. Messy when berries are falling, so plant away from paving and...Read More entrances. Makes good syrup, pie, jam, etc

I inherited a huge red mulberry tree when I purchased my home. The shade it provides, in the So. Cal. heat, as well as the lovely chatte...Read Morering of birds every morning, is well worth the purple paw prints my dog leaves in my laundry room and kitchen. Messy, but beautiful.

I bought a red mulberry by mistake, intending to buy a black one, of which I have good memories. I have found the tree tough and incredib...Read Morely vigorous, but a mad tangle of branches.Having tried to thin them into a more regular shape I then read that pruning should be kept to a minimum as it will stimulate another bout of vigorous growth. This is true.
However possums have now discovered the tree and are doing it serious damage. They systematically eat out each bud along branches that will take their weight in Winter, and have taken to stripping the bark off large areas of branches.Iassume there is a protective outer layer that they are eating as, contrary to my expectations, the branches haven't died, although the stripped areas have gone black in colour.
The berries are pleasant enough, and make good preserves, but I prefer the black ones even with their potential for staining which extends to the dropping of birds that have been eating them.

I bought three and they are doing very well here in Haymarket, VA.

When we lived in Houston we had a large Mulberry tree that was a heavy producer. We dug up a couple of it's offspring and brought them w...Read Moreith us when we moved to Santa Fe, texas.

The largest tree is now about 20 feet tall and had many thousands of berries. At the first sign of pink, the berries were gone. We never saw a ripe one or one on the ground. The birds and squirrels really love them.

The only native Mulberry and widespread in ther eastern half of the country. Similar to the White Mulberry (which is native to Asia) but ...Read Morethe leaves are sandpapery feeling and hairy beneath.

Very attractive to wildlife, the berries are somewhat bland. As stated above, plant away from high traffic areas....these trees can be a mess when the fruit ripens.

My husband & I just moved into a house with an adjoining back lot that used to be a plant nursery. This is our first spring, and we are...Read More still trying to keep track of all of the different plants and trees. There is a lovely mulberry tree that is growing out by the back patio, about 8 feet tall, and is just now producing berries.

My sister-in-law had one of these in her yard in the Baltimore, MD for years and her daughter loves the berries. Unfortunately, the tree...Read More was destroyed by hurricane Isabel and we're having problems finding a replacement :(

We have a tree here on our farm that has been here 40 years or more.. We love to eat them, and so do the birds and my pet goats, so we al...Read Morel enjoy it, LOL..Next to Mayhaw jelly the mulberry comes in a very close second with me..They are ready here in southwest GA in late April, early May..
Larkie

Hi, I've had this Mulberry in my yard for about 30 yrs. It's always loaded with fruit. I also have the white fruit variety, but I don't k...Read Morenow the name of it. They both produce really sweet berries, and they make great jelly, but I warn anyone who plants them to make sure they're way away from the house! I was too dumb to think of that when I planted them, and believe me I've cleaned lots of purple juice stains out of my carpet!! They get tracked everywhere! LOL The birds also love them, and when the berries are ready, I can see all kinds of very different types of birds! Plant one, and get your binoculars ready! Enjoy! Yardmender