Clusters of ripe black aronia berries (Aronia melanocarpa) on the bush

Aronia Berry (Bundle of 3) | Spring 2027

$79.99

Reliable shipping

Flexible returns

Pollination Self-fertile

Bloom group 4 of 7 (Mid)

Aronia pollination chart

Ripening

Will it finish before your first hard freeze?

Check it on the Ripening Map (opens in a new tab)

Disease resistanceResists 2 of 2

Cedar rusts : Resistant, 4 of 5
Fire blight : Resistant, 4 of 5

Scored 1 to 5. Higher resists better, and ? means no published data yet.

See it on our berry disease chart (opens in a new tab)

At a glance: Aronia Berry is an aronia shrub rated hardy to zone 2 in our ratings (winters to -50°F), and self-fertile, so one plant can crop.

Also called	Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)
Hardy to	Zone 2 to 8. A bare number means the whole of zone 2, colder half included (winters to -50°F). Find your zone with our cold hardiness calculator.
Chill hours	About 900 hours (600 to 1,200). Our estimate. No published figure exists for this variety yet. Montana winters give it plenty. In milder climates, make sure your winters average at least this much. Check your chill hours or see our sources.
Pollination	Self-Fertile. Bloom group 4 of 7 (mid), late spring here. Aronia is self-fertile, so even one plant will fruit. These seedlings differ from each other, so planting the bundle together (or near Viking) can boost yields. Bloom group is our estimate from the variety's origin and relatives. Pollination Charts.
Good for	Ornamental value (8/10), jams and jellies (7/10), drying (6/10), juice and sweet cider (6/10), wine (6/10), feeding wildlife (6/10). Scores are our own 1 to 10 ratings; 8 and up makes our Best Of lists.
What you get	Bare root. Shipped or picked up in Missoula in spring, roots wrapped in moist sawdust. Guaranteed to bud out.

A superfood that is rich in antioxidants and anthocyanins, Aronia berries are excellent dried or blended into smoothies.

Late-Season Harvest Perks

Best left on the tree well into fall to allow some of the sugars to develop. This Zone 2 shrub is easy on your harvest schedule—when everything else has already been picked, Aronia is still hanging on. We’ve harvested them well into November here in Montana, surrounded by snow.

Tough as Nails in the Cold

The berries don’t seem to be affected even when temps drop below 20°F. Hardy to Zone 2 (-50°F), they’re a must for all cold-climate sites.

Growth & Soil Preference

They reach roughly 5–6 feet at maturity in Montana, possibly a bit more if planted in soft, loamy, organic matter-rich soil.

Currently these are 2-3 ft. tall

Photos: “Schwarze Apfelbeere (Sonnenstraße, Neuendettelsau) 20250726 131533” by Alexander Rahm, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; “Photinia melanocarpa 2953” by Jomegat, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0; “Aronia hedge with berries in autumn in Tuntorp 1” by W.carter, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; “Aronia melanocarpa 15-p.bot-aroni.melano-34” by Ayotte, Gilles, 1948-, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Questions we get about Aronia Berry

Does Aronia Berry need a pollenizer?

No. Aronia Berry is self-fertile, so a single tree can set fruit. Aronia is self-fertile, so even one plant will fruit. These seedlings differ from each other, so planting the bundle together (or near Viking) can boost yields.

How cold hardy is Aronia Berry?

We rate Aronia Berry hardy to zone 2, which means winters down to about -50°F. Our ratings come from real winters at our two Montana sites and from trusted growers across the North, not from a catalog average.

How many chill hours does Aronia Berry need?

About 900 hours of winter chill (we count hours at or below 45°F), likely somewhere between 600 and 1,200. Nobody has published a chill figure for it, so that's our estimate from its relatives and origin. Wild aronia needs roughly 900 to 1,200 chill hours, depending on where the seed came from. Montana winters cover that easily. Our chill hours guide has a calculator for your winters, and our research page lists the sources.

What is Aronia Berry good for?

Our top use scores for Aronia Berry are ornamental value (8/10), jams and jellies (7/10), drying (6/10), juice and sweet cider (6/10). Anything scored 8 or higher makes our Best Of lists.

What arrives, and when does Aronia Berry ship?

A dormant bare-root plant, roots wrapped in moist sawdust with a vapor barrier, shipped or picked up in Missoula in spring. We guarantee our plants bud out. Stone fruits can be slow, so if one still has not budded out by August 15, write to us and we credit you for the following spring.

Is Aronia Berry disease resistant?

Yes. It's resistant to cedar rusts and fire blight. Our berry disease resistance chart has every rating, the notes and the sources.

Juice data

SG (Brix)	Acid g/L	Tannin g/L	pH
1.083 (19.9) P	10.0 P	5.0 E	not published

Letters show how solid each number is: M measured, P published but weaker, E our estimate.

Czech survey: 19.9 Brix, 9.8 g/kg malic, and 66 g/kg sorbitol, which yeast won't ferment. Very astringent. Commercial aronia juice blends often run 2 percent or less [50]; at 5 percent the tannin shows.

Sources: Czech aronia fruit survey, Czech J. Food Sci. 2014; MSU Western Agricultural Research Center, aronia trials

Run Aronia Berry through the hard cider calculator to see what it does in a blend.