# American Mountain Ash (Sorbus americana)

> Flat white flower clusters, orange-red berries and brilliant fall color for cold, cool-summer regions.

Also called American rowan, dogberry. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-mountain-ash/

![American mountain ash (Sorbus americana) cluster of orange-red berries above pinnate leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/american-mountain-ash-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Bruce Marlin, CC BY-SA 2.5, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sorbus_americana.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Small tree
- Mature height: 15 to 30 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 2 to 7
- Grows wild in: The Appalachians and rocky ground
- Native range: 20 states, north and west to [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN) and south to [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA) ([Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV) and [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI))
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Average
- Growth rate: Slow
- Flowers: May to July
- Fruit: Berries, August to March
- First crop: About 15 years (the European species)
- Mature spread: 20 ft
- Traits: Showy flowers, Wildlife value, Fall color, Winter interest
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

American mountain ash is a northern tree of bogs, ridges and cool coasts, not the European species sold as rowan. In hot lowland gardens it struggles. Where it is happy, in New England, the Upper Midwest and the high Appalachians, waxwings and grosbeaks strip the berries every winter. At home in a small northern yard, as a specimen tree with fall color and winter birds.

## Size, growth and what to expect

American mountain ash is slow growing and short-lived, a smooth-barked shrub or small tree of 15 to 30 feet. Our growth estimator models it at about a foot a year in youth, its figure for a slow grower. Stunted, deformed trees may live more than 50 years.

No bearing age is on record for the American species, but its European cousin starts at about 15 years and then crops almost every year. Flat creamy white flower clusters 3 to 6 inches across open from May to July. The bright red-orange berries, about a quarter inch across, ripen in August and hang on the tree all winter. Grouse, robins, waxwings and jays eat them, and moose and deer browse the shoots. It is also called American rowan, after the traditional name for the mountain ashes.

It grows wild from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia south to New Jersey and Pennsylvania, down the mountains to South Carolina and Georgia, and west to Minnesota.

## How to grow American Mountain Ash

American mountain ash belongs to the cold country, and it wants cool summers, full sun or light shade, and a moist, acid soil that drains. It will not thrive on hot, dry or compacted ground. At full size it needs 15 feet from buildings and other trees.

Plant bare-root saplings while dormant, ideally in early spring in the far north. Dig a hole twice the width of the roots and no deeper, keep the root flare at grade, and backfill with plain soil. Mulch a wide ring three inches deep to keep the roots cool, clear of the trunk. Sow seed in fall a quarter inch deep in a bed screened with hardware cloth.

Water once a week through the first summer and during dry spells afterward, since drought stress invites borers. Rabbits and voles girdle the thin bark, and deer browse the shoots, so guard the trunk for the first three years. Pruning is not needed.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female trees to pair. American mountain ash needs pollen from a second tree to set a good crop, and bees carry it, so plant two or more seedlings. Mountain ash is not a true ash, so emerald ash borer does not attack it. Fire blight can blacken shoots in a wet spring, and sunscald can crack an exposed trunk.

## Sources

- [USDA Fire Effects Information System: Sorbus americana](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/sorame/all.html)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Sorbus americana](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/sorbus-americana/)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual: Sorbus chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Sorbus.pdf)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Sorbus americana](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/SOAM3)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Sorbus americana](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SOAM3)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: American mountain-ash, Sorbus americana](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=405)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 9: Sorbus americana](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250100453)
- [Go Botany (Native Plant Trust): Sorbus americana, American mountain-ash](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/sorbus/americana/)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online: Sorbus americana](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/sorbus/sorbus-americana/)
- [University of Minnesota Extension: Emerald ash borer in Minnesota](https://extension.umn.edu/tree-and-shrub-insects/emerald-ash-borer)
- [The Morton Arboretum: Emerald ash borer](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/tree-plant-care/plant-care-resources/emerald-ash-borer/)
- [The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition: rowan](https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=rowan)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Native trees for New England and New York: from the coast to the North Woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-new-england-and-new-york/index.html.md)
- [Native trees for the Great Lakes and Midwest: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-the-great-lakes-and-midwest/index.html.md)
- [Multistem or single stem? Sometimes the trunk is hiding the answer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/multistem-or-single-stem/index.html.md)

## Related

- Other mountain ashes (Sorbus) we grow: [Showy Mountain Ash](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/showy-mountain-ash/index.html.md)
- Plants that share its sun and soil: [Mountain Maple](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mountain-maple/index.html.md), [Showy Mountain Ash](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/showy-mountain-ash/index.html.md), [Mountain Winterberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mountain-winterberry/index.html.md) and [Pin Cherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pin-cherry/index.html.md)
- Trees to plant it under: [Eastern Hemlock](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-hemlock/index.html.md), [Red Spruce](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/red-spruce/index.html.md) and [Northern Red Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/northern-red-oak/index.html.md)
- Same size, similar character: [Creek Plum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/creek-plum/index.html.md), [Downy Hawthorn](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/downy-hawthorn/index.html.md), [Eastern Redbud](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-redbud/index.html.md) and [Pear Hawthorn](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pear-hawthorn/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on American Mountain Ash, add ?species=american-mountain-ash with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 2, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=american-mountain-ash&zone=2&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for American Mountain Ash](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=american-mountain-ash): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Transplant planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=american-mountain-ash): whether American Mountain Ash can be moved and what the move takes, the root ball, its weight, who can move it and the months, as Markdown at that address (add caliper= or height=, month= 1 to 12 and soil= sandy, loam or clay)
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for American Mountain Ash as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=american-mountain-ash (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how American Mountain Ash is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=american-mountain-ash (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what American Mountain Ash needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 2 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=american-mountain-ash:2
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant American Mountain Ash where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=american-mountain-ash&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far American Mountain Ash goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=american-mountain-ash&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months American Mountain Ash flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=american-mountain-ash