IT'S THE BERRIES

by Edith Puckett
CGCI Horticulture Chairman

We floral designers love to use berries as an interesting addition to our arrangements. Late fall and winter is the best time to look in your local nursery for shrubs with colorful berries. We all know about the red berries used for the Christmas holidays: holly, pyracantha and cotoneaster varieties to name the most obvious. But did you know that berries also come in other colors?

   Viburnum tinus, the `Laurentian Viburnum' has clusters of metallic blue berries. Another plant with decorative blue berries along slender stems is Ophiopogon jaburan, which is also sometimes mistakenly sold as Liriope gigantea. This plant grows and looks like a taller Liriope, but Liriopes seldom have berries, so be sure you get the right plant if you want berries. Mondo grasses, including the dwarf varieties, are also Ophiopogons and set pea-sized blue berries. However, the stems are too short for flower arrangers and the foliage usually hides the berries.

   Calicarpa `Beauty Berry `species have wonderful red-violet berries in separated clusters around the stems. There are several species, one from our southeastern states and the rest from China and Japan. C. Bodinierii is probably the best one. There is also a white-berried form.

   Some Symphoricarpos species also have red-violet berries. S. albus is native to our western states, has white berries and is known as `Snow Berry.' I've often visualized a bouquet of Snow Berries with white Sasanqua camellias in a green glass compote for the holidays.

   With a little searching you might find Nandina with white or yellow berries. An added bonus with Nandina is that the foliage is often brightly colored in winter months and makes a long-lasting addition to winter arrangements for the home.

   If you like dark purple and black berries, Myrtus (myrtle) and Ligustrum (privet) species will fill the bill. Mixed with orange kumquats and green limes they look quite striking.

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