Christie’s Blog

October 2024

Remember to Add Plants with Colorful Autumn Berries to your Garden

Each season its fun to walk your garden and see which areas could use a little zing!

Look for a ‘hole’ or empty space, anywhere that perennials might be too small to be seen or areas that look horrible because they are in the wrong sunlight or are being watered incorrectly. It’s easy to forget to add berries in the fall.  Berries contribute beautifully to a more versatile garden.  For us bird lovers it is a ‘must’ to have berries available for our feathered friends.

It is the season for berries. Any plant  that flowers will fruit later in the year.  Below are examples of some berries you may have or want in your garden. You may have berries of which you are not aware.  Look hard for them now. It’s possible that pruning of some shrubs have cut off the possibility of fruit.

I have never seen the lovely berry of the privet. I think this is because the plant is cut back and manicured often in the Richmond garden therefore removing future berries. Here is an example of privet berries that I found in the wild.

Pastels and Whites

Callicarpa Americana-or White Beauty berry

This Native plant is a small round shrub which likes part shade or sun and moist soils. In summer it bears pale pink flowers on lovely arching stems. In the fall and warmer winter temperatures it has bright white berries (on left).

The more commonly seen Japanese beauty berry (on the right) are not native but are lovely with purple berries. They too like shade and  moist soil.  They tend  to volunteer prolifically after a few y ears. They are easy to pull up if you catch them when they are small.

Symphoricarpos also called Snowberry, Waxberry or Ghost berry- also has bright white berries. There are other cultivars too. All are mildly toxic to peopled pets. It grows from California to the east along stream beds, in woodland and on north facing slopes.

Symphoricarpos x Kolman Candy (pink)  is known as a Coral berry bush.  It loses its leaves in the fall and is a Native to the northwest. It can get 5’tall.

Hypericum

The flower for all varieties is a lovely yellow cup flower which re-blooms all summer.  It loves hot sun a drier soil. The berries are different colors on different cultivars. Berries can be anywhere from yellow to coral to orange. The plant doesn’t get more that 3’ high and can be cut back halfway in the spring.

I don’t mean to sell any one company but I found on line the “Floral Berry Service” which sells all kinds of hypericum.

Orange

Poets Laurel

This is a lovely evergreen with arching stem that stays about 3’ tall and wide.  I use them in  my woods and as foundation plants that have lower windows that I don’t want to hide behind shrubs.  It can take dry and wet conditions and likes shade. In the fall it has large orange berries that stay on the stem through winter.

Pyracantha– some people shudder when they hear this plant name mentioned because of its sturdy, long, painful thorns. The plant is striking when heavily espaliered  against a wall.  If the pyracantha stands alone it will get big and fat and fall over. My father-in- law planted it as a  fence in his yard to keep kids from cutting through his back yard. It worked.

Red and Black

Arrowhead viburnum or Nanny berry  is just one viburnum that has creamy white flowers in the spring  and blue to black berries in summer. It is deer proof (like all viburnums)  and can take dry soil. It turns red for the fall and then looses its leaves in  winter but doesn’t matter in so far as losing interest because its fruit is thick on the branches. It get 6’-15’ high so be sure you pick the right space. You can prune it after it blooms in the Spring if it gets too big.

Ilex verticuata or Winterberry- In this case you have to have the  non fruiting male and female for berries. Bushes that have been in full sun produce huge clusters of red berries just in time for pots and wreaths during the holidays.

Aronia or Chokeberry

I have dug up and re planted this plant from house to new house a few times, and it has survived beautifully. It takes dry conditions and has lovely white flowers in the spring that turn to  red to black berries.  The berries are edible and are used in lots of juice and jam recipes.  They are said to boost the immune system, help with cancer and help with heart health.  Over 50 species of birds gobble them up.

English Roses

These will form berries on the end of each branch if you do not dead head them towards the end of the fall. They are a nice surprise for those of us , like me, who also dead headed and cut back roses in early winter.

All berries draw a lot of energy from the plant, so you want to be sure your plant is strong enough to support them .

If you look on line there are a lot of  ” how tos” on making holiday wreaths. If you are one of those people maybe you can use berries from your garden In a wreath they last a few weeks or a month. the colder the weather the fresher they look.

Christie lives in Manakin Sabot , Virginia where she manages a 3 acre garden. Her blogs are written from her 35 years as a personal and professional gardener.