Morus alba 'Fruitless'

The roof mulberry as a natural parasol. The mulberry as roof form can be grown from 4 different species:

1. Morus alba `Platanifolia` (syn: Morus alba `Macrophylla`)
2. Morus alba `Fruitless` (syn: Morus platanifolia `Fruitless`)
3. Morus nigra
4. Morus alba (syn: Morus bombysis)

At the nursery we grow `Fruitless` and `Platanifolia`. Nigra is grown on demand as a food tree for people and birds. The mulberry originates from the east and reached Europe via the Silk Road through Italy. In Italy and France `Fruitless` and `Platanifolia` have been selected from seed. At the moment `Fruitless` is especially recommended in our gardens.

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Characteristics of the roof mulberry

The fruitless roof mulberry develops its leaves rather late. This allows you to fully enjoy the spring sunshine. Leaf growth starts in May and the beautiful large deeply cut leaves remain on the tree until the first night frost. So it is perfectly possible that in December the mulberry will be in full green leaf! The leaves can grow up to 20 cm.

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How to Prune the Mulberry

There is a lot of wrong information about this. Pruning this tree can be specific, therefore we usually ask for a picture via our sevicemail. Generally the best time is in February, just after a frost. Prune the shoots on the main branches to 1 or 2 eyes.

Multi-stemmed morus roof shape

Mulberry grows naturally in an irregular and multi-stemmed way. The single-stemmed culture form is therefore less natural and we therefore recommend multi-stemmed parasol forms. The wood of the mulberry tree is soft and hangs down slightly. With a multi-stemmed parasol shape, you'll have a stronger growth base for a wide parasol.

What is available

On the cultivation fields of espaliers you will find both young and older parasol mulberries. The young parasols still have a rack and a parasol width of around 200cm. The older ones have wider parasols and are fully self-supporting. Please feel free to contact us for more information about the umbrella moraine.