Illinois Everbearing Mulberry Tree

I've always wondered if the "mulberry bushes" mentioned in the nursery rhyme were actually mulberries, since true mulberries grow on trees. I've heard of people hedging mulberry trees to keep them shorter, but it is a constant effort and it may cause the tree to be more vegetative (leafy) and less fruitful. You don't really "pick" mulberries from a tree anyway – they are shaken either by hand or by the wind when they're ripe and harvested from the ground (or caught on tarps if you're prepared) afterward. If the mature tree is too large for your growing space, you might have better luck restricting the size by growing it in a container.

You can keep it in a pot until you feel more comfortable planting this spring when the weather warms. You can even leave it outdoors in the pot during the day and bring it in at night when the temperatures drop below freezing.

yes, they are sweet and delicious; no hard seeds. They are awesome!!

For the most part they are grown from rooted cuttings, but Stark Bro's may graft them from time to time if need be.

In PA, this means July through end of September
My trees are very young but I still see a few new berries each week and they ripen progressively

Illinois Everbearing Mulberry is a cross between a red mulberry (native to eastern and central North America) and a white mulberry, which is native to China.

An excellent book on training any fruit tree to be small is "Grow a Little Fruit Tree" by Ann Ralph. It all comes down to timing and pruning. (An addition by the staff: this book is available here: //www.starkbros.com/products/tools-and-supplies/books/grow-a-little-fruit-tree)

My father has some of these trees planted in the 1970s. They do have nice limbs for climbing. I did this as a boy. They are however somewhat slow growing as they fill out. I have planted 5 of these myself about 6 years ago. They have grown in height very well, about 20 feet, but have not filled out much. This is an educated guess, it was long ago, but It seems that it took about 10-15 years to fill out enough to climb

My best guess, without knowing all the details, is that it didn't get enough water in the fall. The berries should have been removed when you put it in the ground as that was very stressful and likely the root system couldn't handle the repairing the damage to the roots and producing berries at the same time. The cold wasn't likely the issues as it was close to zero here for two weeks straight and mine survived but I planted it in the Spring and watered it all summer. Watering is critical for all new plantings.

They ship professionally pruned at 1-2' tall, and are two years old.