A taste of AUTUMN
Fruit-bearing trees and shrubs not only put on a dazzling show, they’ll provide a feast for birds
Trees and shrubs with leaves that take on fiery tints before they drop are generally treated as the poster children of plants that provide autumn colour. Yet there’s a less celebrated group of woody specimens that deliver an equally impressive seasonal show: berry and fruitbearing trees and shrubs.
Among the gems guaranteed to add some oomph late in the season are crab apple, holly and pyracantha, along with the likes of cotoneaster, mountain ash and viburnum. Apart from these highprofile types, there are plenty of plants that aren’t as widely known or grown, such as callicarpa, clerodendrum and hippophae.
This broad coalition of evergreen and deciduous plants will turn heads with their jewel-like baubles in shades of yellow, red and orange, as well as more surprising shades, such as white, pink and brown. Some last until late autumn, others look good well into winter. And while our gardens benefit from their visual impact, the berries and fruit they produce are an important source of food for wildlife, especially during cold weather. Blackbirds, thrushes, finches and many other birds rely on them for vitamins and energy, while hedgehogs, squirrels, badgers and foxes will feast on them.
Aside from looking good at the tail end of the year, now is the time to plant berry-bearing trees and shrubs so you can enjoy a spectacular autumn finale for decades to come.
Given their association with the festive season, hollies are perhaps the best-known berry-bearing trees. Apart from Ilex aquifolium, there are hundreds of different varieties available. Many have berries in shades of red but there are also ones with yellow, white, orange and black fruit.
Ilex x altaclerensis ‘Golden King’ displays its red berries against a foil of oval green leaves with a wide golden margin, while Ilex aquifolium ‘Bacciflava’ has nearspineless, oval green leaves and clusters of yellow berries.
Ilex aquifolium ‘Handsworth New Silver’ boasts creamy edged leaves and clusters of red fruit.
A word of warning: not all hollies produce berries. Female plants produce them but male plants are grown solely for their foliage. However, to ensure a female holly bears fruit, you will also need a male plant to help with pollination.
One of my favourite native trees is the mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia), a deciduous treasure with brilliant autumn foliage and bright red berries. It’s closely related to a host of other beauties producing clusters of berries in shades of white, yellow, pink, orange, red and brown.
Sorbus hupehensis has white berries blushed with pink, and Sorbus vilmorinii produces clusters of pinkish berries. Named after an Austrian botanist, Sorbus ‘Joseph Rock’ carries swags of yellow berries. All three are ideal for small gardens.
As for shrubs, there’s a great choice of cotoneasters, featuring evergreen and deciduous types, with berries in shades of red, orange, yellow, purple and black. My favourites include Cotoneaster splendens and Cotoneaster ‘Rothschildianus’, a small evergreen tree with narrow leaves and clusters of yellow berries.
Pyracantha is the brawny cousin of cotoneaster, with robust, thorny branches that carry big bunches of berries. Pyracantha ‘Saphyr Rouge’ has bright red fruit, ‘Soleil d’Or’ produces yellow berries and ‘Orange Glow’ bears masses of glossy, orange berries from early autumn until the end of winter.
These barbed shrubs are easily tamed by treating them as wall shrubs. Train their branches against a bank of horizontal support wires — use 14gauge galvanised wire fixed between vine eyes, spacing rows 18in apart.
Cotoneaster and pyracantha will tolerate shade, but for the best crop of berries, set all of the plants mentioned here in sun. Then to ensure a great autumn display, mulch in late winter, feed with slow-release fertiliser granules in spring and water well during dry spells.