Winterberry Holly. Photo Credit: Proven Winners
Plants with berries have winter appeal.
Adding color to your late fall/early winter garden is a great way to keep your landscaping looking colorful against a wintry background. Planting shrubs with berries not only add a punch of color as well as provide food for birds and wildlife, but their cut branches add to your holiday decorating. Plant your berry shrub where you can enjoy it from your favorite chair. Here’s our pick of ‘berry interesting’ shrubs!
Chokeberry – This is a true multi-season plant. White flowers in the spring give way to red berries that ripen in the late summer and persist through fall. Fall foliage can be bright red. Red Chokeberry (Aronia) matures at 7’ x 3’ but there are smaller varieties. It tolerates wet and dry soil and full sun to partial shade.
Winterberry Holly – A great native plant that likes full sun or partial shade and requires medium to wet soil. Winterberry is a deciduous holly bush which means its leaves are lost in the fall allowing you to enjoy the vibrant red berries. One male plant is required in the area to pollinate the females. If you don’t, you will not have any berries. They look great with evergreens and grow 3 to 15 feet tall, depending on the variety.
Beautyberry. Photo Credit: Proven Winners
Beautyberry – The vibrant purple berries form in clusters along the branches and are really eye catching. Depending upon the variety, they can grow 4-6 feet tall. They like part shade to full sun and are considered deer resistant. The bright berries are well worth the wait!
Cotoneaster – These shrubs are low-growing, spreading shrubs that make excellent ground covers and help with erosion. Picture them falling over rock walls and steep slopes. Some are deciduous and others are evergreen but all have red berries. They are tough, hardy shrubs that thrive in well-drained soil in full or part sun
For more information about placing winter plants in your garden, contact us at Whitehouse Landscaping and we will be glad to answer your questions.