It’s the Berries

November 25, 2008 at 7:00 pm (Plants, Shrubs, Trees)
Tags: Berries, Gardening

 “It’s the Berries”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana 

Now that winter is just around the corner and there are few plants flowering, there still are other things to bring a little color to a garden on dark, cold days.  Berries.   There are many plants around with colorful berries and as I walked around today, I was surprised at how many plants have berries still on them.

 

 The Bradford pear is sporting ‘berries’ with autumnal colors.  Very appropriate for Thanksgiving.

 

The Beauty Berry bush still has some magenta berries left though the birds should devour these soon.  The bushes farther away from the house have all been stripped clean.

 

The pyracantha growing along a nearby road is loaded with bright orange-red berries.  It won’t be long before the cedar waxwings come through and feast on them.

 

 

The white berries on the tallow tree, which is finally showing some fall color, show why this tree has the nickname of popcorn tree.

 

 

The wild privet has thousands of these black berries.  While the berries are attractive, the numbers show why I am constantly pulling up seedlings of this invasive tree.

 

 

The glossy, black berry of the lirope reminds me of jet beads. 

 

  

The white berries of the Night Blooming Jasmine bring an unusual colored berry to the garden.  Too bad they don’t grow low to the ground like the lirope.  The glossy black and white combination would be nice.

 

 

Now to move on to the red and green combinations which are an anticipation of the Christmas season.   This Christmas Ardesia (above) keeps its red berries all year.  And, this holly (below) has just started showing its little jewels.

 

  

 

Nandina is another common plant but its red berries are welcomed come winter.  There still were a few berries around that I didn’t photograph – ligustrum, Bradford holly, and the rose hips which are just starting to turn colors.   All these berries prove that flowers aren’t the only thing that brings color to a garden.

 

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