Arbutus x andrachnoides
With its pretty white flowers and fruit, sometimes borne at the same time, this is a great plant for a woodland patch in your garden. To top it all, it has beautiful bark and evergreen leaves.
Vital statistics
- Common name
- hybrid strawberry tree
- Family
- Ericaceae
- Height & spread
- 8m (25ft) high and wide
- Form
- Evergreen shrub
- Soil
- Fertile, humus-rich, well-drained soil
- Aspect
- Full sun or partial shade
- Hardiness
- Fully hardy when mature
Arbutus
This is a genus of about 14 species of evergreen trees or shrubs that live in rocky habitats around the Mediterranean and areas of central and northern America.
They are renowned for their attractive peeling, red-brown bark, leathery leaves and pitcher-shaped pink or white flowers, which are followed by strawberry-like fruits.
Arbutus makes an excellent plant for a large shrub border, woodland garden, or as a specimen tree.
Arbutus x andrachnoides
A cross between Arbutus andrachne and Arbutus unedo, this is a large, broadly upright, spreading, sometimes shrubby tree, with peeling, red-brown bark and glossy, mid-green leaves up to 10cm (4in) long. It bears semi-pendant panicles of urn-shaped white to pink flowers from autumn to spring. Its fruit, which isn’t set in abundance, is small and orange-red.
Cultivation
- Grow in fertile, humus-rich, neutral to acid soil in a location in full sun or partial shade with shelter from cold winds.
- It will tolerate alkaline soils
- Leaf spot and aphids may be a problem.
Propagation
- Root semi-ripe cuttings in late summer
- Sow seed in containers in a cold frame when ripe, but as a hybrid, the seedlings may be variable.
AGM
The RHS Woody Plant Committee awarded Arbutus x andrachnoides AGM an Award of Garden Merit with the description:
'Large bushy evergreen shrub with attractive peeling cinnamon-brown trunk and branches. Leaves glossy dark green. Small white urn-shaped flowers in clusters. Fruits small, orange-red.'