Monday, November 26, 2007

Late Berries

Pyracantha coccinea berries in afternoon sun.

Late Berries

I went out looking for a few pictures yesterday. Obviously there isn’t much left out in the garden. I decided to take a few berry pictures as I feel that is something I am not very good at and haven’t had a lot of success in the past. Most of the berries were on their way out and the birds were at work eating the Crabapples and other fruit.

These were the best I could come up with:

The first picture is Scarlet Firethorn, Pyracantha coccinea (py-ra-KAN-tha). It is a shrub that can be very difficult to work around. It isn’t called Firethorn for nothing, they feel like fire when they stick in! It is a nice shrub for certain areas and privacy screens but be careful where you plant it in the garden. I think it looks best as an espalier. The ability to withstand drought and neglect, a fast growth rate, white flowers and colorful berries are a few of the reasons to plant Pyracantha. It can even grow in shade although you won’t get as many berries.


This tree is another plant with vicious thorns. I take care of several types of Hawthorne and they are just a bear to prune, downright dangerous actually. The Cockspur Hawthorne (Crataegus crusgalli) is a nice little tree that grows to about 18 feet tall and 20 feet wide. Its white flowers in the spring are followed by very glossy foliage for the summer with these fruits in the fall and winter. Another plant to be careful with the site you plant it on. The flowers have a slightly unpleasant odor so it should not be located near the front walk or next to a terrace or patio. If you are not using one of the thornless types don’t plant it near where children will be playing.


I am not sure what Viburnum this is. It is one of the few I have seen with yellow berries. The Estate has a fairly large Viburnum collection and I think I will try and add a yellow-berried type to it next year. This one was planted amongst some of the red-berried Viburnum and it was a quite striking combination. I took this photo in a parking lot and couldn’t get a good angle on the combination shot.

5 comments:

SandyCarlson said...

These are great photos. Your blog is my regular dose of what's important and what I need to know about the world outside my door!

If you ever teach photography, let me know! I'll be the first to sign up.

Oswegan said...

I really like the first shot alot. Great orange color and focal plane.

~Oswegan

joey said...

Great shoot ... honorable berries, worthy of snipping and enjoying in the house.

Annie said...

You can now say that you are adept at taking photos of berries. Beautiful, aren't they.

Digital Flower Pictures said...

I guess these berry shots came out okay, part of that was the nice autumn light. Thanks. I will keep trying as I like to try and challenge myself with the camera sometimes.