Morus nigra

black mulberry

• Position: full sun
• Soil: moist, well-drained soil
• Rate of growth: slow-growing
• Flowering period: May to June
• Flower colour: inconspicuous pale green
• Other features: large, raspberry-like fruit (August to September)
• Hardiness: fully hardy
  
  A stately tree with heart-shaped leaves and delicious, slightly acidic raspberry-like fruit in late summer. The black mulberry is a long lived tree and is perfect for growing as a specimen as it has a more attractive shape than the white mulberry, with low gnarled branches. This also makes it easier to pick the sweet fruit, though it will take a number of years before it starts to produce its bumper crop. Keep in mind that these plants generally take around 7-10 years to produce fruit and ours are already 3-4 years old.
  
  
• Garden care: Prepare the ground well before planting. Plant in full sun out of cold, drying winds. Stake for the first few years and prune in winter, as the trees 'bleed' at other times of the year. Little pruning is needed however, only to remove low, dead, diseased or crossing branches.