Berry beautiful in winter; Holly means Christmas - but lots of other shrubs and trees also offer seasonal colour.

Byline: YOUR GARDEN With Diarmuid Gavin

Winter berries are an extraordinary gift which delight both us and many types of other creatures which rely on them.

We are now approaching the shortest day of the year, enduring the occasional Arctic blast, and our gardens often look shrivelled in the gloom.

Summer bedding is but a dream, our perennials have retreated, many trees are nude and lawns are damp and vulnerable to damage.

But hope springs through with a wonderful range of winter berries dotted throughout some trees and shrubs.

Berries ensure the survival of some species through the seeds they contain, which may go on to be germinated and become new, young plants. They also provide food and energy for hungry garden birds; and of course berries can be brought indoors for decoration in the festive season and act as an indoor reminder of the wonders of the natural world outside.

Holly and its vivid red berries are synonymous with Christmas. In Christian symbolism, the prickly leaves represent the crown of thorns, the berries the blood of Jesus. At the moment, holly bushes are laden with their crop which some believe indicates a harsh winter ahead.

However, good fruit crops are the result of good past weather, not prophetic signs of the future.

Pyracantha bushes are also ablaze with intense displays of orange and red fruit.

But look further afield and there are shrubs and trees producing berries ranging from white and yellow through to blue, purple and violet.

The snowberry, Symphoricarpos, was once widely planted in Victorian and Edwardian times in shrubberies and as game cover, but is no longer popular, possibly due to its vigorous suckering and spreading habit.

However, the plump white fruit is a gift to the birds at the moment and looks pretty in the hedgerows.

Sorbus Pink Pagoda drips bunches of pink berries which fade to white in winter. It makes a wonderful specimen for a small back garden as it is petite but graceful in silhouette and has great autumn foliage as well.

Pink Charm is another good variety with shocking pink berries.

For highly unusual coloured berries, Callicarpa bodinieri Profusion wins the prize. It will go unnoticed as a shrub for most of the year but come autumn it produces berries of a stunning lilac-purple hue. Best planted in groups for good cropping, it is aptly otherwise known as Beautyberry.

Also producing berries in the pinkto-purple colour range is Gaultheria mucronata. Related to the heather family, it needs lime-free soil to flourish and will look wonderful planted among relations such as winter-flowering heathers.

Seaside dwellers will be familiar with the sea buckthorn, the hard-topronounce Hippophae rhamnoides. This is a great windbreak plant for coastal locations - it is thorny with narrow silvery leaves and glowing orange berries - the silver and orange make a striking combination.

Viburnum davidii is so widely planted that we sometimes forget to appreciate its beauty. It has deeply veined evergreen leaves and where several shrubs are gathered, they will produce vivid blue berries in winter.

If you want to propagate from berries, you need to pick them when they are completely ripe, so when you squeeze them they are soft.

Collect and mash them through a sieve - a household one is fine - so that the pulp goes through and you are left with the seed inside.

Sow in gritty compost, covering seeds lightly and leave outside to germinate. Some may need more than one cold season to get going, so be patient!

CAPTION(S):

Holly

Sorbus Pink Pagoda

Sea buckthorn

Snowberry

Viburnum davidii

Beautyberry

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Publication:	The Journal (Newcastle, England)
Date:	Dec 16, 2017
Words:	595
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