Viking Black Chokeberry

Viking is the black chokeberry that fruits heavily and colors hard in fall. Aronia melanocarpa 'Viking' grows 3 to 6 feet tall and wide in full sun to part shade, hardy from Zone 3 through Zone 8, and starts producing within two or three seasons.

White flower clusters cover the shrub in spring, followed by glossy black berries that ripen in late summer and hang in heavy clusters. Fall foliage turns bright red and holds well, so the plant earns its place in an ornamental bed on looks alone.

The berries are edible, which surprises most people. Viking was selected in Scandinavia for uniform heavy crops and is one of the cultivars grown commercially in Europe for juice. Eaten fresh the fruit is genuinely astringent, which is where the name chokeberry comes from, but cooked into jam, syrup, or juice the flavor turns deep and wine-like.

Black chokeberry grows naturally in wet ground and tolerates standing water, poor soil, and salt, and it fruits reliably in part shade where most edibles will not. Viking is self-fertile, so a single plant will produce, though two or more give heavier crops. Deer leave it alone.