Photo credit: Brian Smithson (Old Geordie) via Visual Hunt / CC BY
Berry-bearing trees and shrubs come into their own in autumn, creating colourful displays that can last well into winter. From elder berries to rose hips, crab apples to firethorns, the addition of berrying plants adds to a new dimension to any garden, with plants carry fruits and berries through autumn and into winter.
Berrying plants also provide home grown food for hungry birds and wildlife too, enhancing their appeal and value to any garden.
Firethorn – (Pyracantha varieties)
Skimmia – Many female varieties produce wonderful displays of berries including Skimmia japonica subsp. reevesiana, Skimmia japonica ‘Nymans’ and ‘Obsession’. Male varieties are equally appealing with great flower displays, like ‘Magic Marlot’ and ‘Rubella’.
Gaultheria Mucronata (Formerly called PERNETTYA)
Cotoneaster – wide range of berrying shrubs including Cotoneaster horizontalis, Cotoneaster ‘Coral Beauty’, C. ‘Cornubia’, C. lacteus, and many others.
© Adam Pasco Media
1. Many shrubs can be given a permanent home in large patio pots. Plant pots using a free-draining loam-based compost.
2. Always stand pots on feet during winter to prevent drainage holes getting blocked and pots filling-up with water, literally drowning their roots!
3. Small berry-bearing shrubs included in seasonal patio pot arrangements can be removed and planted out in the garden next spring.
4. Some plants have both male and female varieties, so it might just be the female one you buy that’s carrying berries. Ask for advice, as in future years you may need to grow male forms alongside the females to ensure their flowers get pollinated and develop future crops of berries.