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Arbutus unedo ‘Compacta’
compact strawberry tree
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Image © Richie Steffen/Great Plant Picks |
Printer-friendly Fact Sheet
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| Outstanding Qualities |
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Arbutus unedo ‘Compacta’ is a four-season evergreen shrub with outstanding flowers, fruit, leaves, and bark on an easy-to-grow plant. The small, urn-shaped, whitish-pink flowers are produced from October to December. Unless winter weather is severe enough to damage flowers, they develop into round, ¾-inch, knobby fruits that gradually ripen to orange-red throughout the year (hence the common name). This is one of the few large shrubs that flowers in early winter, just at the time the fruit is ripening. Strawberry tree also has attractive, cinnamon-colored bark and rounded, glossy, medium-green leaves. This handsome shrub can be used as an informal hedge or sheared for a more formal look. It may also be planted as a focal point, carefully pruned to accentuate the branch structure and beautiful bark. |
| Culture |
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Arbutus unedo ‘Compacta’ tolerates a wide variety of soil conditions. It grows best in part or full sun and is drought tolerant once established. There are few insect and disease problems, though it can occasionally get aphids and there may be fungal spotting on older leaves if grown in very poor soil. Foliage and flowers may be damaged in extremely cold winters. |
| Growing Habit |
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Ten-year height is 5 to 6 feet high and wide if left unpruned. Eventually it can reach 10 feet high and wide. |
| Hardiness |
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USDA zones 7 to 9 |
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© 2009 Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden
Funded by the Pendleton and Elisabeth Carey Miller Charitable Foundation
Administered by the Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden