BLOG; Two for Colour
Shrubs need to work hard in the garden either as a screen, background foil to summer exuberance or by providing winter structure and interest. Two hard workers, which provide winter interest in abundance, are the Beauty Berry, Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii ‘Profusion and the Snow Berry, Symphoricarpos albus. Of course the common name gives away their winter interest. On the Beauty Berry it’s the stunning clusters of shining vivid purple berries which persist long after the leaves, having turned golden-purple for the autumn, have fallen away.
Whilst for the Snow Berry it’s the clusters of pure white berries that we have all picked off as children and squashed. Snow Berry looks vaguely familiar and it should as a north American relative of the honeysuckle, this slightly overused plant is fantastic in deep shade and makes a thicket of green keeping weeds at bay during summer. The Beauty Berry has its own special tricks too, reaching up to 3m tall; during mid-summer it is covered in clusters of small pink flowers, an added and often forgotten bonus.
