# Showy Mountain Ash (Sorbus decora)

> A small tree of the far North, with flat clusters of white flowers and heavy bunches of scarlet berries that bend the branches and feed birds.

Also called northern mountain ash, large-fruited mountain ash, Pyrus decora. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/showy-mountain-ash/

![Showy mountain ash (Sorbus decora) dense cluster of scarlet berries above leaves turning red](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/showy-mountain-ash-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Ryan Hodnett, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AShowy_Mountain-Ash_%28Sorbus_decora%29_-_Algonquin_Provincial_Park_2019-09-21_%2802%29.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Small tree
- Mature height: 20 to 40 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 2 to 6
- Grows wild in: Rocky ground, the Appalachians, stream banks and rich moist slopes
- Native range: 14 states, north and west to [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN) and south to [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN) ([Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [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 York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT) and [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI))
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Wet
- Growth rate: Slow
- Flowers: May to July
- Fruit: Berries, August to March
- First crop: About 15 years
- Mature spread: 20 ft
- Traits: Wildlife value, Showy flowers, Fall color
- 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) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/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 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

Showy mountain ash is a small tree of the cool North, at home on rocky slopes, lake shores and mountain woods. It is not a true ash but a member of the rose family, named for its ash-like leaves of 11 to 17 bluish-green leaflets. Beside American mountain ash it has broader, blunter leaflets and larger flowers and fruit. Ohio, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania list it as endangered, and it has vanished from Indiana. Give it a cool northern yard as a lawn specimen or a small shade tree for the birds.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Showy mountain ash grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. Expect a tree of 20 to 40 feet, sometimes with several stems, and a crown 15 to 20 feet wide that opens and rounds with age. Its wood is weak and brittle. It needs cool summers and does poorly where summers are hot and humid.

Flat clusters of white flowers, 3 to 6 inches across, open from May into July, about a week after American mountain ash. The scarlet berries, 3/8 to 1/2 inch across, ripen from August to November and can hang on into March. They weigh the branches down, and songbirds, waterfowl and small mammals eat them. The leaves turn yellow to red in fall.

It grows wild from Greenland and Labrador west to Manitoba, and south to Minnesota, northeast Iowa, northern Ohio, New York and New England. Look for it on rocky slopes and ledges, in cool, moist woods and along lake and stream shores. Where the two meet, it grows higher up than American mountain ash.

## How to grow Showy Mountain Ash

Showy mountain ash wants full sun or light shade and a cool, moist, acid soil. It takes wet ground along a shore but not drought, salt or the polluted air of a city street. Keep it to cool northern yards and high ground. Plant it 15 feet from a wall and at least 15 feet from overhead wires, and set trees 15 feet apart.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. Sow seed in fall a quarter inch deep in a bed screened with hardware cloth, and let winter chill it. For spring, keep it damp in the refrigerator for 60 to 120 days first. Seed sown late or kept warm may wait a year or two to come up.

Water weekly through the first two summers and in dry spells after, since stressed trees invite borers and cankers. Guard the trunk from rabbits, voles and deer for the first few years. Prune only if needed, from late fall to early spring.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female trees to pair. Fire blight is the worst trouble, scorching the leaves at the branch tips, and scab can strip a tree of its leaves. Cankers, crown gall, powdery mildew, rust, borers, aphids, sawflies and scale can also strike. Mountain ash is not a true ash, so emerald ash borer does not attack it. The raw berries are too bitter to eat, though they make jelly, and the seeds are toxic if eaten.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 9: Sorbus decora](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250100455)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Sorbus chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Sorbus.pdf)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Sorbus decora](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=286371)
- [University of Minnesota, Urban Forestry: Showy mountain ash, Sorbus decora](https://trees.umn.edu/showy-mountain-ash-sorbus-decora)
- [NDSU Extension, North Dakota Tree Selector F2180: Showy Mountain-ash](https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/sites/default/files/2024-09/F2180%20Showy%20Mountain-ash.pdf)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Sorbus decora](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SODE3)
- [Minnesota Department of Natural Resources: Showy mountain-ash](https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/trees/showy-mountain-ash.html)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online, International Dendrology Society: Sorbus decora](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/sorbus/sorbus-decora/)
- [Go Botany (Native Plant Trust): Sorbus decora, showy mountain-ash](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/sorbus/decora/)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: showy mountain-ash, Sorbus decora](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=576)
- [University of Minnesota Extension: Emerald ash borer](https://extension.umn.edu/garden-and-home/yard-and-garden/yard-and-garden-insects/emerald-ash-borer)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Sorbus decora](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/SODE3)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Sorbus decora](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.961540/Sorbus_decora)
- [Ohio Department of Natural Resources: Ohio Rare Native Plants Status List 2024-25](https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/odnr/natural-areas/2024-25_Ohio_Rare_Native_Plants_Status_List_FINAL_draft.pdf)
- [Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife: List of Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species](https://www.mass.gov/info-details/list-of-endangered-threatened-and-special-concern-species)
- [Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program: species of special concern](https://www.naturalheritage.state.pa.us/Species.aspx)
- [Indiana Department of Natural Resources: Endangered, Threatened and Rare Vascular Plants](https://www.in.gov/dnr/nature-preserves/files/np-etrplants.pdf)

## 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)
- [How fast every tree and shrub we grow gets tall: growth rate, A to Z](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/growth-rates/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)
- [Leaf litter, not wood chips, under the canopy](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/leaf-litter-not-wood-chips/index.html.md)

## Related

- Other mountain ashes (Sorbus) we grow: [American Mountain Ash](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-mountain-ash/index.html.md)
- Trees to plant it under: [Eastern Hemlock](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-hemlock/index.html.md), [Yellow Birch](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/yellow-birch/index.html.md) and [Yellow Buckeye](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/yellow-buckeye/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Showy Mountain Ash, add ?species=showy-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=showy-mountain-ash&zone=2&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Showy Mountain Ash](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=showy-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=showy-mountain-ash): whether Showy Mountain Ash can be moved and what the move takes, the root ball, its weight, who can lift it and the months, as Markdown at that address (add caliper= or height=, month= 1 to 12 and soil= sandy, loam or clay)
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Showy Mountain Ash as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=showy-mountain-ash (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Showy 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=showy-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 Showy Mountain Ash needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 1 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=showy-mountain-ash:1
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Showy 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=showy-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 Showy 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=showy-mountain-ash&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Showy 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=showy-mountain-ash