Berries prolong the gardening season deep into winter – although birds usually polish them off by the new year. Most gardeners are pleased to provide a bird buffet, after all, they get several months to enjoy them before the birds do.
Gardeners indignant at sharing might be especially pleased with the brilliant purple berries of Callicarpa, which persist until spring, presumably because they are distasteful to birds. Unfortunately, this deciduous shrub is rather drab for the rest of the year – but it can be paired with other shrubs, such as hydrangea, or underplanted with spring bulbs.
Cotoneaster, too, has persistent berries. It is also a great plant for pollinators when in flower. Semi-evergreen Cotoneaster Cornubia is especially prolific with masses of bright red berries. This big (3m-high) shrub makes a good “tree” for small gardens. Medium size (1.5m) evergreen Coral Beauty carries masses of orange berries.
Birds, doing what birds do, can distribute cotoneaster seeds widely but some – Cotoneaster bullatus, Cotoneaster horizontalis and Cotoneaster simonsii – can become invasive menaces in the wild, overwhelming native habitats and plants. Rural gardeners and those living near nature reserves should choose more innocuous berries such as pyracantha.
Pyracantha bears berries on last year’s wood so needs careful pruning, ideally after flowering, shortening shoots to reveal the anticipated berries, retaining at least some new shoots, especially if grown as hedges. Being evergreen they make particularly attractive hedges. Their flowers are relished by pollinators. Some have been bred for disease-resistance including Pyracantha Saphyr Rouge (Cadrou) and Saphyr Orange (Cadange). For yellow berries, Pyracantha rogersiana Flava is a good choice. They are especially useful for adorning walls and fences and lend themselves to being trained as espaliers. Their thorns increase garden security on perimeter fences.
Berberis make fine, thorny hedges but delay the necessary pruning until after the berries have gone, either trimming lightly for hedges or removing some older branches for shrubs. Berberis thunbergii f atropurpurea Admiration (PBR) – a deciduous purple-leaved shrub with yellow, pollinator-friendly flowers and bright red fleshy berries – grows to 40cm, making it a compact small shrub. Evergreen Berberis darwinii has blue-black berries after yellow flowers and little holly-like green leaves. This handsome shrub reaches 3m but is readily pruned.
Another large deciduous shrub, Clerodendrum trichotomum var Fargesii has startling unusual blue berries after fragrant white flowers. It makes a good small tree substitute in smaller spaces. It tends to sucker so it may be possible to scrounge a sucker in winter to save money.
![RHS Garden Rosemoor - Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii 'Profusion' and Hydrangea paniculata 'Silver Dollar' Gardening Autumn Berries image from Guy Barter/RHS](https://wp.inews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SEI_177412099.jpg?w=760)
Native berries not only feed birds but also a wide range of native insects. Blackthorn, which bears purple sloes, has vigorous suckers and is best avoided. Guelder rose (Viburnum opulus), hawthorn (Crateagus monogyna), hollies (Ilex aquifolium), spindle bushes (Euonymus europaeus) and wayfaring trees (Viburnum lantana), however, are better behaved. When grown as hedges they are ideally pruned only every two or three years as the berries are carried on older shoots. Such informal hedges are best suited to wild gardens.
In smaller gardens, related but more ornamental, free berrying versions are wildlife-friendly choices. Viburnum opulus Xanthocarpum carries masses of fleshy yellow berries on its deciduous boughs reaching 2.5m, Euonymus europaeus Red Cascade – with abundant vivid scarlet capsules opening to reveal red berries – and for holly, the almost spineless Ilex aquifolium J.C van Tol which, unusually, produces berries without the need for a nearby male plant.