NOVEMBER 



IRISH GARDENING 



73 



Winter Berries 



AT this season of the year, when the flower garden 

 has lost its summer beauty and herbaceous 

 perennials have passed into their winter state 

 of rest, the rich colour of the fruiting shrubs form the 

 most striking feature in our borders. The use of 

 winter-fruiting shrubs as decorative plants about the 

 home ought not to be neglected, no matter how small 

 the garden or lawn may be, and whether it is situate in 

 country or suburb. Among the host of subjects that 

 might be planted the following are a few of the com- 

 monest and most easily grown species, and taken all 

 round are the most satisfactory to the ordinary 

 amateur : — 



1. COTON EASTER S — 



There are several species 

 that may be selected, the 

 best known perhaps being 

 C. microphylla, an ever- 

 green Himalayan species 

 that grows from three to 

 four feet high, and is most 

 effective as a covering for 

 rocks and low walls. The 

 flowers, which appear 

 during May, are white, 

 and pass into small crim- 

 son berries towards the 

 end of the year. 



2. Crat-^gus pvra- 

 CANTHA, the Firethorn or 

 Evergreen thorn of South- 

 ern Europe, is excellent 

 for walls. It bears clus- 

 ters of brilliantly scarlet 

 berries (borne on the 

 branches of the previous 

 year) that often last 

 throughout the w hole 

 period of winter. 



3. Pern ett vas, the 

 common species being 

 Mucronatii. It is a wiry 

 little evergreen from Ma- 

 gellan, belonging to the 



heath family, which covers itself all over with 

 clusters of brightly-coloured berries. It loves moist 

 peaty soil, mixed with plenty of sand and leaf- 

 mould. 



6. Berberis. — The common barberry makes an ex- 

 cellent and most attractive hedge. B. Thunbergii, from 

 Japan, is a straggling shrub, well suited for shrubbery 

 borders. The leaves turn scarlet in late summer, and 

 its berries are orange-red in colour. B. Darwinii is 

 well-known, and is a great favourite, as it will grow in 

 almost any garden. B. or(Mahonia) aquifolum is North 

 American. Its purple berries are said to make an 

 excellent preserve. 



7. Arbutus, of which A. unedo is the strawberry 

 tree, a native of the west of Ireland and Southern 

 Europe. It is without doubt one of the most handsome 

 of our shrubs. Every one must have observed how in 

 autumn it displays at one and the same time the white 

 flowers of the current year, together with the scarlet 

 fruits of the year previous. The fruits when ripe are 



edible, but we do not re- 

 commend them for use at 

 dessert. 



S. The Snowuerrv. — 

 A common garden shrub 

 from N. .America. May 

 not be considered as being 

 particularly ornamental by 

 many people, but it is so 

 accommodating as to soil 

 and situation that we have 

 ourselves at least found it 

 a most useful subject. Its 

 waxy-white berries are 

 certainly attractive in 

 early winter. 



9. EiONVMUs vulgaris 

 is the native Spindle-tree. 

 It loves a chalky soil. Its 

 foliage gets finely 

 coloured in autumn, and 

 its fruits are singularly 

 handsome; they are bright 

 orange set in a pink aril. 

 E. atropiirpureus is the 

 ning Hush o( North 



r.ur 



Amei 



fruit.^ 



It has scarlet 



RoiiERT Htc.H Clark 



4. HiPi'Oi'HAK rhamnoides.— The Sea Buckthorn ov 

 Sallowthorn is a native plant that produces a fine dis- 

 play of orange-coloured berries in large clusters, well 

 set off against its charming grey foliage. As the sexes 

 are separate in this shrub, one pollen-bearing plant at 

 least must be grown with the female specimens in order 

 to secure fruits. 



5. Skim.mia, of which there are two well-known forms 

 grown in ga.rdens— S. japon tea and S. lanrcola. the first 

 named being Japanese and the other Himalayan. 

 Japonica is excellent for town gardens. In laureola 

 (which is rather tender) the fruits are green and the 

 flowers strongly scented. 



10. Gaultiieria is a 

 genus of shrubs chiefly 

 North American. They 

 belong to the heath famll\ . One. the creeping winter 

 green, is common, but the Siialioii,with its purple berries, 

 is perhaps the most attractive. They love peaty soils. 

 I I. AucunA JAPONICA is ver}- commonly grown in 

 gardens, but too often under such crowded conditions 

 as hinder its fair growth and development. In this 

 plant, too, the sexes are separate, and a pollen-bearing 

 bush must be grown in order to secure fertilisation of 

 the female flowers. Failing" this, care must be taken 

 to artificially pollenate the flowers if we desire to gel 

 the reti berries for winter decoration. 



12. Hollies.— There are quite a number of desirable 

 varieties of the common holly, such as the weeping 

 holl}-, the Silver Queen (leaves variegated silver), the 

 Golden Queen, the Hedgehog holly (leaves intensely 

 spiny), and the yellow -berried holly. 



We give this round dozen of genera as a list to start 

 with. 



