Highbush Cranberry vs Purple Leaf Sand Cherry - TreeTime.ca

Highbush Cranberry vs Purple Leaf Sand Cherry

Viburnum trilobum

Prunus x cistena

COMING SOON

(new stock expected: fall of 2025)

CUSTOM GROW

Highbush Cranberry
Purple Leaf Sand Cherry

Highbush Cranberry produces attractive white flowers in late June and bears edible fruit that matures to a bright red colour in the late summer.

This shrub, native to much of Canada, is fast growing, and its fruit can be eaten raw or cooked into a sauce.

Purple Leaf Sand Cherry provides bright reddish-purple leaves that turn bronze-green in the fall. In the spring, tiny flowers with a pinkish white hue bloom. The flowers are small, but the impact comes from the shrub blossoming all at once.

The Purple leaf sand cherry can be susceptible to pests and diseases in more humid areas; a typical life span is approximately 15 years. Not suitable for a privacy hedge on its own but is often alternated with lilacs. Often used as an accent plant that attracts birds and bees.

Highbush Cranberry Quick Facts

Purple Leaf Sand Cherry Quick Facts

Zone: 2a
Zone: 3a
Height: 4 m (13 ft)
Height: 1.8 m (6 ft)
Spread: 2.7 m (9 ft)
Spread: 1.8 m (6 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: any
Moisture: normal
Moisture: dry, normal
Growth rate: medium
Growth rate: medium
Life span: medium
Life span: short
Suckering: none
Suckering: low


Toxicity: the leaves and seed are slightly toxic
Foliage: purple leaves
Fall colour: dark red
Bark: dark red to purple
Flowers: white clusters
Flowers: pinkish
Fruit: dark red fruit
Berries: edible red berries
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no

In row spacing: 0.6 m (2.0 ft)

Between row spacing: 5 m (16 ft)
Other Names: american cranberrybush, american cranberrybush viburnum, high bush cranberry, kalyna
Other Names: purpleleaf sandcherry