Wealden Times | WT177 | November 2016 | Christmas Gifts supplement inside

Garden
Very berry
Sue Whigham celebrates autumn’s visual feast
Top: Fruits of Crataegus tanacetifolia
Above: Berries of Celastrus orbiculatus ‘Hermaphrodite’
I
heard David Hockney on Radio 4 the other day talking
about a visit he made to Japan to see the glory of the
cherries in full blossom. He loved them but said he was
just as happy looking down into a Yorkshire valley and seeing
clouds of hawthorn blossom. The May or hawthorn (Crataegus
monogyna) has been tremendous this year, smothered with a
froth of white flowers, which now have metamorphosed into
thousand upon thousand of red fruits. A feast for the eyes and
a generous store of food for birds.
I rather love the grey leaved Crataegus tanacetifolia, first
spotted in the grounds of Stowe. A tansy-leaved hawthorn, it’s
mighty slow growing but its combination of soft grey downy
leaves and a pale orange fruit is charming and unusual and
worth waiting for.
Euonymus is another group of plants that produce fabulous
autumn fruits, varying in range from shrubs and small trees to
climbers and creepers. There’s a good specimen of a climber at
Great Dixter which always catches the eye at this time of the
year. This is Celastrus orbiculatus ‘Hermaphrodite’ – its name
is quite a mouthful for a graceful, strong growing climber. The
combination of ochre yellow berries opening to bright scarlet
seeds looks amazing in the autumn against a backdrop of clear
yellow leaves.
Euonymus europaeus ‘Red Cascade’ is a selected form of
our native spindle, which is often seen as a hedgerow plant
especially where there’s chalky soil. This is particularly
floriferous, weighed down with red fruits which break open to
reveal orange seeds in a rather startling combination.
At Sheffield Park there’s a good specimen of a relation of
this, E. hamiltonianus, which originates from the Himalayas.
The subspecies sieboldianus is an absolute show stopper with a
combination of pink, yellow and red autumn colour and rosy
pink fruits opening out to orange seeds.
Viburnum opulus or the Guelder rose needs a lot of room
but is worth growing for its maple-like leaves which colour
up well in the autumn and its white flowers in mid to late
summer. They’re a little like those of a lacecap hydrangea,
frothy and exceedingly pretty. It’s a native plant which
flourishes in damp areas and a particularly lovely form,
‘Xanthocarpum’, instead of having glistening red berries,
produces bright and translucent yellow berries.
Quite a lot of the viburnums have good autumn berries and
as they’re pretty easy to grow, they’re worth looking out for.
Another favourite group of plants for their autumn fruit
153 wealdentimes.co.uk