What a berry good time (From York Press)

What a berry good time

11:18am Saturday 12th December 2009 in

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THE end of the year has come around again and gardens are filled with seasonally spiked leaves, shining berries and ribbons of ivy. Even the smallest space can provide plenty of things to cut and use for decorating the house or bunching together for a front door wreath.

Berries abound in the garden this month, from the blue black fruit of Viburnum tinus to bright red holly, pure white snowberry to scarlet cotoneaster. Colourful stems of cornus and salix provide vertical strips of reds and yellow while the Whitewashed Bramble, Rubus cockburnianus, sends out arching stems bloomed with white.

Cotoneaster, pictured, is a popular plant seen in many gardens. Easy to grow and thriving in any soil in all but the shadiest of spots, this shrub comes into its own in November and December, when it is full of berries, which with luck will hang on to the branches until the New Year.

The Fishbone Cotoneaster, or Cotoneaster horizontalis, is a favourite species with red berries and small mid-green leaves that turn red in autumn. As the name suggests, it spreads across the ground; but it will also grow against a wall with little assistance other than a few anchor points for the main branches. Side branches will grow flat against the wall without support.

The cotoneaster that grows in our garden was here when we moved in and has never been identified. Long arching stems were allowed to grow untamed for a time and we enjoyed their shape above our heads, until it became obvious that the shrub was becoming a tree for which there was simply not enough room.

So this year it was cut into shape, one main stem only allowed to remain against the wall rising up and above the top of the bricks in a curving wave.

Side branches have been cut into an embryonic hedge which will gradually thicken up with regular trimmings. We will soon have a tidy wall shrub covered in clusters of white flowers, with bees in late spring and orange fruit in the autumn. Birds feed on the fruit during winter, of course, but I have found this cotoneaster tends to be ignored until the weather gets really cold. Perhaps the orange berries are less attractive as a food source and are left until more interesting fare is exhausted.

The holly that grows in the corner of the garden was also inherited but 20 years ago it was a sad looking twig plonked in the middle of the lawn.

Thank goodness it was moved to a less prominent place towards the edge of the garden, although I worry it is too tall now and am planning on having the height trimmed next summer.

Side branches have been lopped from time to time but in the interests of safety a professional will be employed to do the job properly.

This is in the future and for the moment the holly is filled with red berries nestling among prickly dark glossy green leaves, perfect for winter decorations. Gloves are very necessary when cutting branches from the tree but once appropriately armoured, the job isn’t too difficult. Young stems are more pliable and useful for bending into a circle for a wreath whilst older, stiffer branches are good for displaying in large pots.

While holly and cotoneaster are popular plants for winter berries, there are many more unusual specimens for the garden.

The seed pods of Iris foetidissima or stinking iris, for example, burst open towards the end of the year to reveal clusters of orange red berries that are held on the plant for weeks. The iris is only a metre or so tall but at the other end of the scale is the rowan or mountain ash family, some of which carry their fruit into winter.

Sorbus sargentiana is laden with red berries in autumn and early winter, these followed by sticky red buds whilst Sorbus ‘Joseph Rock’ has large sprays of yellow fruit that deepen to amber with age and hang on well into winter.

For white berries Sorbus cashmiriana is a good choice with pure coloured fruit that tends to be avoided by birds until everything else has gone.

Weekend catch-up

SPACE has been made and carpets and floors swept in anticipation of the arrival of the Christmas tree.

Like many other people, we will be venturing out to get ours today, so this is a reminder or possibly a plea for all those cut trees to be treated right for the short time they grace our homes.

Firstly, saw off the bottom couple of inches at the base of the trunk, the fresh cut will be able to take up water more easily.

Then trim the bottom few branches from the trunk if necessary to leave the trunk clear for fixing into the stand.

Put the tree into a purpose-made stand fixing it in place and fill the stand with water or put it into a large bucket and wedge into position with heavy bricks or stones. This will stop it overturning.

Then fill the bucket with water. Keeping a tree in water will extend its life considerably and most will stay intact until the New Year.

Gardening TV and radio

Tomorrow.

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther with Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC Radio 4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Matthew Biggs, Bob Flowerdew, Bunny Guinness and chairman Eric Robson help gardeners in Wallasey, Merseyside. Meanwhile Matthew Wilson looks at classic garden literature and the gardening weather forecast is at 2.40pm.

Friday.

3pm, BBC Radio 4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Chris Beardshaw, John Cushnie, Anne Swithinbank and chairman Peter Gibbs solve horticultural problems in Cuffley, Hertfordshire. Matthew Wilson continues his look at classic gardening literature and is joined by Beth Chatto and Christine Walkden. The gardening weather forecast is at 3.40pm.

• In The Garden is taking a break over the holiday period and will return on Saturday, January 9. Best wishes to all our readers for a Happy Christmas and peaceful New Year. See you in 2010 when snowdrops and hellebores will greet us at the start of another year.