Which Aronia? Pruning depends upon what it looks like now and what you want it to look like. I have never pruned my Aronia melanocarpa (although the rabbits have).

tj

My Aronia is 'Brilliantissima'. and I added it two years ago. I can try to get a photo of it tomorrow. It's about 6ft tall and sparsely branched, to me. I would just like to see it fill in some, bushier. And have more branches to produce more fruit. But I'm thinking if I trim back any of the main branches, I could ruin the shape of it or keep it from getting taller.

Give it more time to develop. Name is actually 'Brilliant'. It also appears material circulated under the name is in reality purple chokeberry rather than red..

Also the representation in commerce seems to be a seed strain(s) rather than a clonal cultivar. Perhaps at one time there was an original clonal form of A. arbutifolia given the name, with seedlings of it having been raised and put on the market subsequently. That had resulted from crossing with A. melanocarpa.

Consistent with this awhile back I planted several seedlings that a nurserymen friend raised from seed he either collected himself or purchased from a supplier as being that of A. arbutifolia. And they all came out with the same intermediate (hybrid) leaves and fruits. Indicating the seed was of hybrid origin, even if the source plant(s) had been correct themselves.

That said one gallon plants I saw under the name ("Brilliantissima") at one outlet here this year looked - so far - to more or less fit the bill, with upright branching, narrowish leaves and red (or reddish) fruits. So there is at least some material on the market at this time that probably produces the desired general effect, whether actually pure genetically or not.

I have one cultivated Aronia and also wild ones. My cultivated A. melanocarpa (Autumn Magic IIRC) blooms well in spring, but has never formed berries, so I wonder if it isn't self-fertile and hasn't got a compatible buddy nearby. Autumn color only forms during years when we have a particularly warm, long autumn. I prune it to remove crossing branches, of which there are many, to remove winter-damaged branches, and to limb it up a bit to make mowing easier since it is wider than expected and so hangs out of the bed a bit.

The wild ones I believe are A. arbutifolia although BONAP doesn't show it in my county, just in adjacent counties. I don't prune them, though, since they are in the woods along the river. They do form fruit, and the birds seem to enjoy them since all the fruit is gone by now.

'Autumn Magic' is known to actually be a purple chokeberry (as is 'Viking'). Fall color of "black" chokeberry plants not being merely yellow, fruits not a pure lustrous black suggests hybrid natures. Don't remember seeing anything about limitations on pollination.

The particular cultivar you have is generally a sparse branching plant. Might be tough to get one with a dense crown without the bare bottom stems.

Althought a different species my workplace was a black chokeberry that is pruned and is very dense and loaded with berries so you should be able to get this effect.

I'm still working on getting a photo of it. :-)

Finally got a photo, but not a very good one. It is full of berries, which the photo doesn't seem to be sharp enough to tell, but you can see the general shape of it and why I feel it is sort of spindly.

Resembles the what-turned-out-to-be-hybrid-seedlings I planted. Shaded position will be contributing to otherwise fairly typical appearance for this genus. No thinning of the upper part should occur, as this will make the specimen look yet more diffuse. And fruit-laden small twigs bending the branches over, to produce an arching habit is part of the charm. Instead - on those occasions when good, strong replacement shoots are already arising on their own, from the base - one or two of the oldest stems should be cut off near the ground in mid-winter, to make room.

Okay, well it is facing South but it has the fence there to deal with and a big Silver Maple to it's West. So it probably gets a good 4 hrs of sun a day. I won't try to prune it though, unless I see some shoots. Thank you. :-)

I jumped on the Aronia arbutifolia and Aronia a. 'Brilliantissima' plant wagons back in the late 80's and early 90's. My experience with the plant is consistent with your photo whether it is straight species or 'Brilliantissima'. It is leggy in a native setting and the same leggy quality develops in the home landscape even if the plants look vigorous and full at time of purchase from a nursery (heavy fert and pruning work wonders). When I use Aronia arbutifolia now it is usually in the shrub border where I am naturalizing and not looking for any sense of refinement. The Missouri Botanic link has an abundance of information on both A. arbutifolia and A. melanocarpa. Garden http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderProfileResults.aspx?basic=aronia

@ Embo........Sometimes the defining information gives me a headache. At other times the lack of defining information gives me an equivalent headache. :) Happy New Year!