Mountain ash is a compact native North American tree beloved by birds and bees. The white blossoms, bright red berries, and golden-orange fall foliage make it a delight for landscaping. Garden expert Logan Hailey digs into everything you need to know about this native ornamental.
If you love birdwatching and your yard needs some extra shade and color, an American mountain ash tree is the perfect addition to your landscape. Sorbus americana is a compact ornamental tree native to North America. It grows wild throughout the Great Lakes, New England, and the Appalachian Mountains and performs excellently in urban and suburban yards.
The thick clusters of showy white flowers are followed by vibrant red berries, adding aesthetic charm and wildlife value through summer. At the end of the season, its golden-orange autumn leaves captivate a landscape in the fall and the berries remain into winter. Mountain ash averages 15-35 feet at maturity and grows with a nice, rounded, open-top crown. Sometimes, it grows from a single trunk, but it commonly has a shrubby multi-stemmed base.
For gardeners in cool eastern regions from hardiness zones 2-6, this native tree will grow quickly without much fuss. Let’s dig into everything you need to know about growing a mountain ash tree!
American mountain ash has a rich history and intriguing folklore. The plant is one of 7 mountain ash species native to the U.S., and the genus Sorbus includes over 100 or 250 species, depending on your definition of the genus. American mountain ash (Sorbus americana) is smaller and smooth-leaved compared to the larger, hairy-leaved European mountain ash (S. aucuparia). Here are more details of this gorgeous red-berried tree and its origins.
The native Sorbus americana tree is nicknamed American mountain ash, rowan tree, dogberry, roundwood, and sometimes just mountain ash. The deciduous perennial shrub or small tree is a member of the rose (Rosaceae) family.
It is called a mountain ash because its pinnately compound leaves of lance-shaped serrated leaflets resemble ash trees. However, it is not actually related to true ash trees of the genus Fraxinus, which are members of the olive (Oleaceae) family.
Sorbus americana grows wild in the Eastern U.S. from the Appalachian mountains of Georgia up to Maine and into Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Its native range also extends through Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. It is a cool climate tree that prefers cold winters and moist soils in zones 2-6.
It thrives in moist, cool, acidic soils of swamps, bogs, and rocky outcrops. We don’t recommend it for hot, humid climates or southern gardens warmer than zone 6.
This wild native has been cultivated as an ornamental since 1811 and is commonly used in home landscapes and parks.
Mountain ash trees are sometimes nicknamed “witchwood.” In 18th-century Europe, many believed European mountain ash trees could cast away witches and guard your home from evil. Some people would burn the twigs outside their houses or make necklaces of the ash wood to protect themselves. When colonizers came to America and discovered this tree covering the northern landscape, they believed they were heavily protected. The five-pointed star on the berry stalks represented good luck.
Old folklore aside, modern plantings of mountain ash are mostly good luck for native bees and birds. The showy white spring blossoms are magnets for bees, and the vibrant red summer berries draw in birds near and far. This wildlife-friendly tree is beautiful, functional, and important for local ecosystems.
Mountain ash trees can be propagated by seeds (gathered from the berries), cutting, or bare root and container trees from a nursery.