How to plant and care for Japanese Wineberry

Rubus phoenicolasius

🍓 Fruit 🔁 Perennial

Glossy orange-red berries in August on striking red, bristly canes that glow in winter. Sweet-sharp and loved by children — birds tend to leave them alone.

At a glance: harvest in August.

When to plant and care for it

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Harvest

Prune

Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.

Growing Japanese Wineberry: what it needs

Light: Part shade · 6+ hours a day
Watering: Water well while fruit swells
Soil: Fertile, well-drained soil
Spacing: 2 m
Height: 2 m
In pots: Only in large containers
Feeding: Sulphate of potash in late winter; mulch with compost
Hardiness: USDA zones 5–9

Step by step

On planting day
Plant
Plant 2 m apart in weed-free, well-prepared soil enriched with compost, and water in well.
0–3 days after “Plant”
Put Up Support Wires
Stretch wires at 45 cm intervals between two posts (or along a fence) to tie the canes to.
7–21 days after “Put Up Support Wires”
Mulch
Spread 5 cm of compost or bark around the plants to keep moisture in and weeds down.

Every year

March
Mulch and Feed
Feed with a general fertiliser and mulch with compost.
June
Tie In New Canes
Tie this year's new canes to the top wires, away from the fruiting canes.
August
Pick the Berries
Pick when the berries are bright red and slip off easily.
Starts from year 2.
September
Cut Out Fruited Canes
Cut the canes that fruited this year to the ground and tie in the new ones for next year.
Starts from year 2.