The plants were growing in a sandy loam soil. Rubus arcticus is found in arctic and alpine tundra, heath bogs, wet meadows and open spruce-hardwood forests. It grows in full sun or partial shade. It is most attractive in late spring, when new shoots and leaves are salmon pink, giving it the appearance of a flowering shrub. This is followed by bright silvery white variegated foliage which lasts all summer.
Winter buds are a dark red.
The range of adaptation of this plant is not well understood. Ames 13709 was a cultivar selected in England and entered the National Plant Germplasm System in 1987. A number of sites asked us to distribute more Sorbaria accessions in an effort to compare different populations to one another and identify superior types. As a result, we are offered five accessions of Sorbaria for the 1997 trials. This species is a tough, disease-free suckering shrub.