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This winter it’s all about the berries, plants with winter fruit!

I’m always looking for plants with attractive fruit at this time of year – they can be a design inspiration as well as great plants to use in my winter decorations. This year I’m trying to branch out from hollies – deciduous and evergreen – and I came up with two other attractive plant options with berries. Read on to learn about Winter Hawthorns and David Viburnum.

The Winter Hawthorn is a great native tree. With a mature height and width of 25-35′ these trees can be planted as an alternative to Crapemyrtles, Dogwoods, Redbuds and other small trees. They produce white flowers in the spring, followed by bright red berries in winter. Be careful of using them in areas with existing cedars – they are one of the alternative hosts for cedar apple rust, which can result in plant death.

Another plant with four season interest is the David Viburnum. In addition to it’s low growing evergreen foliage this plant produces white flowers followed by showy blue berries. Providing unusually large evergreen foliage on such a small plant, I love to plant David Viburnum in front of large perennials or ornamental grasses for an evergreen foreground. As the perennials go dormant the Viburnum becomes the star of the show with it’s unusual berries.

Looking to add plants with unusual winter fruit to your landscape? Contact Bright Leaf Landscaping at (919) 475-1015 or fill out our online contact form . Design and installation are our expertise, and we are always happy to meet with new clients to discuss potential projects!