Prickly customers

THE leaves may be taking time to change and fall this autumn, but berries are in abundance and attracting birds to their glossy skins and bright colours. There is always room for a berry-bearing shrub or two in even the smallest of gardens.

We have a holly tree at the bottom of our garden and a cotoneaster growing against an east-facing wall, both of which have fruited well this year.

The holly tree is several years old - it was a twig stuck in the middle of the lawn when we moved here 17 years ago and I'm glad I had the foresight to move it while it was still small, as hollies hate root disturbance.

Now it is five metres or so high and breaks up the expanse of the high brick wall behind our garden, as well as giving height to our small plot.

In spring it supports a white-flowered Clematis Montana, which drips with blooms in May, while in autumn and winter it treats us to an increasingly large display of red berries.

The tree is a plain-leafed common holly, Ilex aquifolium, with glossy dark-green prickly foliage and deep-brown trunk and branches.

It is a tough plant that can be grown in shade and cut back drastically if needs be in late spring, although a few branches can be removed in December for Christmas decorations.

Pruning is a hard job as can be imagined since the leaves are tough and sharp, so thick gloves and a couple of layers of long sleeves are required to protect the arms and hands.

Most hollies are unisexual, so to get berries on a female plant a male one needs to be growing nearby. We have only one holly in our garden so there must be a male plant growing somewhere in our local area because we always get a crop of fruit, but to ensure berry production, and if there is space, it is a good idea to plant one of each sex.

The label on the plant should say whether it is male or female but this can also be checked out in a copy of The Plant Finder.

Females include Ilex aquifolium 'Argentea Marginata' with pink new leaves maturing to cream streaked green and an abundance of red berries and Ilex altaclarensis 'Golden King' with purple-flushed green young branches, yellow-margined green leaves and reddish-brown berries.

Males include Ilex aquifolium 'Ferox Argentea' or Silver Hedgehog holly with cream margined leaves, the surface of which is covered in spines, and 'Golden Queen' with golden yellow-edged leaves. And no, this is not a mistake; the king and queen are opposite sex in the holly world.

The other berry bearer in our garden is a cotoneaster, which, like the holly, was here when we moved and has slowly grown to cover a good area of wall. It has oval leaves and reddish-orange berries on long branches that have until recently been rigidly tied in against the wall.

In the summer, I had to do some drastic cutting back of all the wall shrubs, but in particular a climbing hydrangea, and the cotoneaster was untied and allowed to grow away from the wall.

Some of the branches are too low to be left and it is difficult to get under them to cut the lawn, but I think if the main trunk and lower stems are tied to the wall, the upper part of the shrub can be left to grow more naturally and arch over the garden.

While the shrubs described above are common, there are plenty more unusual berry-bearing specimens to choose from, if something different is required. Callicarpa bodinieri, for example, has clusters of violet berries as early as August or September, but they usually remain on the plant until mid autumn.

Callicarpa bodinieri var.giraldii 'Profusion' has the same colour berries but in greater amounts and is easier to find. It is fully hardy but is best grown in full sun and fertile well-drained soil.

Euonymus europaeus, or spindle tree, has a short display of inconspicuous flowers in the early summer but in autumn it carries clusters of pinkish red berries that open to reveal the orange seeds inside, while Viburnum davidii has dark grey-blue berries on red stems. Viburnum davidii is either male or female, so both are needed to produce berries.

Gardening TV and Radio

Tomorrow (12/11/05)

9am, Radio York, Down To Earth. Presented by William Jenkyns. (Repeated on Wednesday at 8pm).

9am, Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

2pm, R4, Gardeners' Question Time. John Cushnie, Bunny Guinness, Carole Baxter and chairman Eric Robson solve horticultural problems of gardeners in Cumbria. The gardening weather forecast is at 2.25pm.

Friday

8pm, BBC2, Garden School. The students come up with an entry for London's Urban Garden Show and help with Dairmuid's Chelsea Flower Show plot.

8.30pm, BBC2, Gardeners' World - The History Of The Walled Garden. Joe Swift investigates the walled garden, from its roots in ancient Persia through to the Edwardian kitchen garden and the modern interpretations of today.

Saturday, November 19.

8am, Radio York, Gardening Phone-in: with Nigel Harrison. Phone number 0845 300 3000.

Weekend catch-up

LAWNS are proving to be a problem this autumn. The mild weather has allowed continued growth, but it has been so damp that for many gardeners it has proved difficult to mow.

So take advantage of any dry spells and continue to cut the grass whenever necessary. Also, remove fallen leaves and other garden rubbish from the lawn - stand on boards to avoid damaging the grass if it is really wet.

There is still time to lay new turf on pre-prepared soil, as long as the ground isn't water logged or frozen. Work backwards over the ground to avoid having to stand on the new turf and use a board to kneel on when trimming and shaping the edges.

Garden news

Askham Bryan College (ABC) Garden Club is holding a talk on Tuesday in the Conference Hall at Askham Bryan College. The talk, entitled Experiences of Britain in Bloom, will be given by Roger Burnett, a judge of the competition, and will begin at 7.30pm. Entry is free to members of ABC Gardening Club and £5 for non-members. There is plenty of free parking in the college car park nearby.

Updated: 16:53 Friday, November 11, 2005