Campbell & Ferrara Outdoor Living
Landscapes since 1945
www.campbellferrara.com
Autumn/Winter’s Trees & Shrubs with Beautiful Berries
With the cooler temperatures of Autumn and Winter in Northern Virginia, comes the opportunity to appreciate the fruits of some interesting plants. We all anticipate the exciting changes in foliage colors in the Fall, but there are other aspects of plants that can be just as striking. Besides being a decorative seed covering that creates winter interest in the garden, berries can provide birds and other wildlife with food during the colder months. Here are a few of the showier examples of trees and shrubs with colorful berries to add to your landscape:
Aronia arbutifolia/Brilliant Aronia or Red Chokeberry – 6’ – 10’ tall, multi-stemmed shrub. Glossy green foliage in summer, bright red fall foliage color with brilliant red berries lasting through January.
Calicarpa japonica/ Japanese Beautyberry – 4’ – 6’ in height and width. A deciduous shrub with small pink or white flowers that become bright, metallic purple or white showy berries in fall.
Ilex verticillata/Winterberry – Upright, deciduous shrub to 10’. Small white flowers become red berries. Plant ‘Southern Gentleman’ in order to pollinate ‘Winter Red.’
Mahonia aquifolium/Oregon Grape – 3 – 6’ tall broadleaf evergreen with yellow clusters of fragrant flowers in Spring. Blue, grape-like clusters of berries in Autumn.
Nandina domestica/Heavenly Bamboo – Evergreen, multi-colored shrub with green and red, ferny foliage. White flowers in Spring produce red berries in the Fall. Up to 6’ tall.
Pyracantha coccinea/Firethorn – Evergreen shrub with a medium texture, can grow upwards of 6’ if not pruned. White blossoms in Spring turn into large clusters of bright orange berries in Fall.
Skimmia japonica/Japanese Skimmia – 3’ – 4’ tall evergreen with maroon flowers in Spring. Only female shrubs produce red fruit in Autumn. One male plant will pollinate 6 females.
Viburnum dentatum “Blue Muffin”/Blue Muffin Vibrunum – 6’ x 6’ deciduous shrub with small white flowers in Spring that produce clusters of blue berries in Fall.
Of course, many of us associate the evergreen hollies with berries, but it’s important to understand how they work in the landscape. Many shrubs produce decorative berries and most are monoecious, meaning that there are male and female parts on each plant. Berries will be produced by each plant even if it is planted alone. But some shrubs, (most hollies), are dioecious, which means that each plant is either male or female. The female plants produce the berries, but only if fertilized by the pollen from a male plant. In the case of most hollies, a male and female will need to be planted together in the same garden in order for the female to produce.
