Berried treasure

Autumn finally seems upon us. We are in a cycle of misty mornings, hazy afternoon sunshine and cooler nights as the garden slowly retreats underground in response. But all is not lost. There are lots of trees and shrubs laden with colourful fruit that could grace your garden in the dank days. Now is a good time to seek them out for most gardens with normal soil.

However, there is an exception. If you garden on heavy clay, it's far better to wait until spring arrives before planting anything.

These colourful fruits give you much pleasure and they also sustain the birds. You will probably attract greenfinches, blue tits, great tits and blackbirds if you provide a larder of rose hips, fruit and berries. I have also seen waxwings, bramblings and siskins feasting on honeysuckle berries on sun-bright January days when the sky has a cobalt-blue gleam.

Fruit and berries come in many shades, but the cheeriest of all are red and, as winter approaches, these glimmers of red set the garden ablaze. If I had to choose one red-berrying shrub above all others, it would be the small, compact Viburnum opulus Compactum'. This choice, free-flowering and fruiting form of our native Guelder Rose produces white flower heads, similar to those of a lace cap hydrangea, in midsummer. Soon after clusters of translucent, bright-red berries appear. They look stunning against the green maple-shaped leaves and they continue to gleam as the leaves turn to a warm, purple-red in autumn. When the leaves drop, the glassy berries stud the bare branches.

I recently noticed some dangling clusters of red berries on the tall, fast-growing evergreen Viburnum rhytidophyllum. This large-leaved shrub, usually grown for its ribbed leaves, could be mistaken for a rhododendron at first sight due to its leggy stance and profile. The berries are deep-red at first (but they eventually darken to black) and they look stunning against the corrugated, dark-green leaves. Good red berries also appear on many cotoneasters, though some self-seed too freely and others are nearer trees in size. I have a favourite cotoneaster called Hybridus Pendulus. This semi-evergreen has weeping branches and it can be trained into a small tree. The red fruits hang in clusters along each drooping branch and I have seen a pair framing a flight of steps and they look at their best in winter because they hang on to their fruit.

Some gardeners prefer white or yellow berries as the birds do seem to shun these colours, preferring the reds, so the berries often linger into winter.

If you have room for a small, slow-growing tree there are several sorbus to choose from. The most delicate, airy and ferny is Sorbus vilmorinii with its almost acacia-like leaves. The rose-red fruits ripen to white but retain a hint of pink.

If pinker berries are required locate Sorbus hupehensis Pink Pagoda', a small tree with blue-green leaves. The clusters of pink berries may well last all winter and I saw a splendid tree surrounded with the green-silvered rosettes of Pulmonaria Diana Clare' and plum-pink, oriental hellebores. They were a picture. If you prefer white, yellow or pink berries, the secret is to frame them with toning plants at ground level.