Fruiting Characteristics of Woody Ornamentals: by Tom Butzler

Imagine how boring our life would be if every time we ate, it was the same food. The same taste and texture would get old after awhile and we would not look forward to mealtime. For many of us, a varied menu can really get the taste buds going.

The same thing applies to a landscape. Imagine going into a landscape that had just junipers and boxwoods. All that green, month after month would get very tiring to the eyes. An aesthetically pleasing landscape should have a mix of trees (small to large), flowering and evergreen shrubs, annuals and perennials. One aspect of the landscape that is often overlooked is the berries.

Berry producing trees and shrubs add many different facets to the landscape with their different fruit colors and attractiveness to wildlife.

The blue fruit of Viburnum denatum
‘Synnestvedt’ attracts numerous birds
 into the landscape

 There is an eye popping display of fruit on a Viburnum denatum ‘Synnestvedt’ at the Penn State Extension Trial Gardens in Clinton County. I think this shrub really stands out as the deep blue berries put on a display in August through October. Birds love the fruit and will pick it clean before winter sets in.

This shrub, which can grow up to 8 feet in height with an equal spread, has several desirable characteristics beyond its’ fruit. It will produce white flowers in late May to early June that last for about two weeks. During the summer, the shiny, dark green leaves stand out compared to lighter green colors in the landscape. And depending on the year, fall foliage can run the gamut from yellow to orange to red.

A favorite I have in my landscape is the winterberry holly. Unlike Viburnum denatum ‘Synnestvedt’, it does not have a showy display of flowers, nor is there any appreciative fall color. This shrub makes up for its lack of four season interest by the most outstanding display of fruit of any other shrub out there on the market.

Ilex verticillata x serrata ‘Red Sprite’ berries stay on long after the leaves
have dropped off adding interest to the winter landscape

There are many cultivars out there, but the one in my landscape beds is Ilex verticillata x serrata ‘Red Sprite’. This one grows to about half the size of other winterberry hollies at about 3-4 feet. The fruit will start forming shortly after the small, non-showy flowers are pollinated. They will reach full size and show their intense color by August. This is not a preferred fruit by birds and will only feed on them when nothing else is available. As a result, the fruit stays on until late winter providing much winter interest in the usually drab landscape. To get berries, it is critical that you plant a male holly somewhere in the yard.

Very few trees can offer the numerous
aesthetic benefits of the kousa dogwood

I love our native dogwood, Cornus florida, but my landscape gets full sun, all day long. Our native dogwoods are an understory tree so they would not perform real well at my site. Kousa dogwoods (Cornus kousa) can withstand an open area and several are planted around my house. This is a four season interest plant in that it has a beautiful show of flowers in the spring, shiny dark summer foliage, attractive fall color, and interesting bark for winter interest.

The pinkish red fruit is just another attractive feature of this small tree and stands out in the late summer/early fall against the dark leaves. It is somewhat edible for humans (I didn’t like it) and the literature states that wildlife, such as squirrels and birds, will eat the fruit. The only animal I see feeding on my kousa dogwood fruit is my dog. I don’t place too much into her likings as she also ventures into the kitty litter box for a taste of the exotic.