This store requires javascript to be enabled for some features to work correctly.
It stays low, shy and full of fruit, so it never becomes a burden 🍇
Family: Moraceae · Pot diameter: 13cm · organically grown · Height: approximately 20cm
Morus nigra ‘Mulle’ is a mulberry for anyone who enjoys watching a young shrub gradually become a broad tree with character. Dark green heart-shaped leaves create a cool crown, while the fruit changes from green to red and finally deep black when ripe. It grows slowly, needs little pruning and rewards a permanent sunny position where dark juice is not a concern.
It suits a sunny garden with enough space for its broad crown. A large container can accommodate it in the early years, with provision for its future growth.
‘Mulle’ offers slow, attractive development, a broad crown and very dark fruit that ripens in succession.
Large textured leaves give bold structure and turn yellow before falling.
Fruit changes from green to red and finally black, so it can be picked in several passes.
The young shrubby plant develops over time into a tree that can reach 10m in height.
Why you will love it: It slowly becomes a tree with history, shade and fruit rather than spending all its impact in the first season.
Choose a permanent sunny sheltered position with deep soil from the start. Allow ample space for the broad crown of a tree that can reach 10m in height, and keep it away from pale paving.
Companions should tolerate early sun and light shade later without obstructing the collection of fallen fruit.
Full sun, preferably in a sheltered position.
Deep watering during establishment and fruit swelling.
Cold hardy; give extra protection to a young plant and to roots in a container.
Only ripe, washed fruit; the juice stains paving and fabrics strongly.
Use fertile, humus-rich soil that stays moist yet drains freely. Avoid winter waterlogging and exposure to cold dry wind.
Water young plants deeply and during prolonged drought, especially while fruit is filling. Let the surface re-aerate between waterings.
Keep a short trunk or three main stems and select 4–6 broad outward limbs. A mulberry is not easily moved once established.
Apply mature compost in spring. Avoid excess nitrogen, which creates long soft growth and delays wood ripening.
Do not position the mature plant over pale paving, seating or vehicles. Ripe fruit drops and stains.
Keep the crown open, remove shrivelled fruit and prune before mid-winter, when cuts lose less sap.
It is self-fertile, so one plant is enough to set fruit.
Fruit ripens successively in summer, often from July to September depending on site and climate.
Wait until fruit is deep black and very soft. Pick over a shallow tray or clean cloth because ripe fruit drops and crushes easily.
Eat fully ripe washed fruit promptly or use it for jam and juice. Red firm fruit has not completed ripening.
After planting: choose its permanent position and allow the short trunk and main limbs to strengthen.
Late autumn to early winter, before mid-winter
‘Mulle’ grows slowly and needs little pruning. Shape it in the early years, then remove only dead, very low or crossing branches before spring growth begins.
Action: Choose a short trunk or three main stems and remove only narrow forks, broken growth and very low branches.
Retain: Keep length and foliage so the wood can thicken.
Action: Before mid-winter remove a branch that crosses or grows into the centre. Do not shorten every new shoot.
Retain: Keep 4–6 broad outward limbs and all well-lit small side shoots.
Action: Remove only one selected old bare or problematic branch to a younger outward side shoot. Avoid large cuts.
Retain: Keep the broad framework and most mature fruiting wood.
Use sharp, clean tools suited to the diameter of the wood.
Remove only broken or diseased material and any shoot obstructing access. Do not carry out routine summer pruning.
Do not do this: Do not make large cuts in late winter or spring, and do not try to keep a large tree small by sudden topping.
Early stems are slender and relatively upright, with large heart-shaped leaves.
As wood thickens, limbs spread and create a broad asymmetric tree.
The mature mulberry gains character from its twisting framework and crops successively on small side shoots.
‘Mulle’ develops from an upright young shrub into a tree with a broad crown and a strong branched framework.
After leaf fall the slowly thickening, lightly twisting framework becomes the main ornamental feature.
What to expect after planting: Early stems are slender and relatively upright, with large heart-shaped leaves.
Mulberry seed reached Kristianstad in southern Sweden, where the city gardener sowed it and shared the resulting young plants. His name and the exact year of sowing have not survived, but one of those seedlings followed a different path from the others.
During the 1960s, that seedling was planted at Balsgård, the Swedish fruit and berry research and selection centre outside Kristianstad. It was observed there for years and stood out for unusual hardiness in the Swedish climate, sweet, aromatic dark fruit and its value as a garden tree.
The Balsgård tree was chosen as the mother tree of ‘Mulle’ E, and all authentic clones of the cultivar descend from it. Vegetative propagation preserved its traits, and the plant entered the Swedish certified E-plant system, turning a chance city seedling into a recognised Scandinavian cultivar.
A mulberry is a multiple fruit, or syncarp, formed from many small flowers in one inflorescence. Each flower’s calyx enlarges and becomes fleshy around its tiny fruit, joining its neighbours to form the juicy whole.
Six practical answers for choosing, growing, harvesting and pruning this exact cultivar.
No. It is self-fertile and can fruit on its own.
Only where there is room for its future growth. In the ground, ‘Mulle’ can reach 10m in height and develops a broad crown.
In the ground it can develop into a tree up to 10m tall, with a broad crown. Choose a permanent position with ample room from the start.
It ripens in succession during summer. Pick only black soft fruit that releases with the lightest touch.
A large, deep container with free drainage and even watering can accommodate it in the early years. Plan for its future growth: this is not a dwarf mulberry.
Lightly from late autumn to early winter, before spring growth begins.
