I got two emails in one week that made me sit back and laugh — not at my readers, but at how a single variety of mulberry tree has managed to become something of a folk legend that doesn’t quite match reality.
The first email came from a reader who’d found the Illinois Everbearing Mulberry recommended on every “dwarf mulberry” list she could find online. She ordered one for a small side yard, and a year later, it was already outgrowing the space she’d so carefully chosen for a compact tree. She felt frustrated — like she’d been sold a bill of goods.
The second reader had a different but equally thorny problem: deer had stripped the lower branches off her young Illinois Everbearing two years in a row. She wanted to know if this particular variety was somehow a deer magnet, or if she’d simply picked an unusually vulnerable cultivar.
Both of these questions — one about size, one about deer — kept coming back to the same root issue: the Illinois Everbearing has a reputation that does not quite match what it actually is. And if you’re thinking about planting one yourself, or you’ve already got one and you’re wondering what on earth to do with it, I want to clear this up for you once and for all.
What the Illinois Everbearing Mulberry Actually Is
Let me start with what makes this variety genuinely special, because there’s real substance beneath all the hype.
The Illinois Everbearing is a hybrid — a cross between Morus alba (white mulberry) and Morus rubra (red mulberry) — that was specifically selected for two standout traits: extreme cold hardiness and an unusually long, heavy fruiting season compared to most other mulberry cultivars. If you’re in USDA zone 5, or even pushing into zone 4 with good siting, the Illinois Everbearing is one of the most reliable mulberries you can grow. And the fruit production? It genuinely does keep producing well into fall when other mulberries have wrapped up for the summer.
Those are real advantages. They’re worth something. They’re why I understand why growers keep recommending it.
But here’s where the reputation starts to slip away from reality: the Illinois Everbearing is not a genetically dwarf cultivar, and it absolutely should not be landing on “best mulberry for small yards” lists the way it does.
The Size Question: Why an Illinois Everbearing Is Not Actually Dwarf
Left unpruned — or with just light pruning — an Illinois Everbearing mulberry commonly reaches 30 to 40 feet at maturity. Some growers report even larger specimens. It is a full-size tree with a vigorous, spreading habit.
So why does it keep appearing on “dwarf mulberry” lists?
I think it’s because the Illinois Everbearing is so good at what it does — cold-hardy, prolific, delicious fruit — that growers want to fit it into smaller spaces. The variety’s merits are real enough that people will work around the size problem rather than just accept that it won’t fit their tiny yard. And sometimes that works out fine, if you’re committed to the work it takes. But too often, someone sees it on a “small space” list, plants it without understanding what’s really involved, and then gets a nasty surprise a couple of years in.
If you’re specifically looking for a genuinely compact mulberry that stays small by virtue of its genetics, I’d encourage you to check out my full breakdown of the best dwarf mulberry varieties for small spaces. Those varieties are a different ballgame entirely.
How to Actually Keep an Illinois Everbearing Small
That said, if you love the Illinois Everbearing for its hardiness and fruiting season — and I do understand the appeal — you absolutely can keep one in a smaller space. It just requires active, ongoing management. This isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it situation.
Here’s what that actually looks like:
- Establish a low framework. From the moment your tree is young, train it to a single, low-branching leader or a multi-stem framework no taller than you want the mature tree to be. This gives you a structure to work with rather than starting from scratch later.
- Prune annually for structure. Every winter or very early spring, remove crossing branches, dense interior wood, and any shoots that are growing toward the boundary of your space. The goal is an open, balanced crown that’s easy to manage and doesn’t get away from you.
- Plan for harder pruning in tight spaces. If you’re really pushing the limits of your available space, you may need to do pollarding or hard heading cuts every one to two years — cutting back to established knuckles or a main framework to restart growth from known points. This is more work than standard pruning, and it does sacrifice some of that gorgeous natural form, but it’s the only reliable way to keep a full-size variety truly compact.
For more on the specifics of annual pruning technique, how to prune a mojo mulberry and other dwarf patio trees covers a lot of the same principles, even though those are smaller varieties to begin with. And if you’re seriously considering the harder approach, pollarding mulberry trees, for when pruning alone is not enough will walk you through what that commitment actually entails.
The Deer Question: Is Illinois Everbearing a Target?
Now, on to the second question: the deer browsing.
This one I want to be especially honest about, because it’s where I’m relying on what the broader research shows rather than my own personal experience. General wildlife-browse research on mulberry doesn’t show strong evidence that any one popular cultivar — including Illinois Everbearing — is significantly more or less palatable to deer than other mulberry varieties.