Thursday, 15 January 2015

Winter berries


Apart from my ridiculously early flowering daffodils there's not much colour about in the garden at the moment. Each day though I make several trips up and down the road and along the paths or gennals (as they are known around here; other spellings are available) and one thing stands out – winter berries.

The most popular berry on my travels has been the pyracantha. Most are still heavily laden with bright red berries. A welcome sight for hungry blackbirds on these cold days.
The abundance of berries on these trees make easy pickings for birds needing a quick and easy feed.
It's not all the red with the pyracantha. Some varieties are orange but still colourful enough to attract the beady eye of a bird.
The most familiar red berry must be the holly berry. Not all holly leaves are sharp and spiky. These lush, smooth leaves allow for easy picking of the berries.
With the recent weather who can forget the snowberry? A little droplet of winter standing out on a grey day.

Linking up with Vai at Rambling Through Parenthood and School Run Colours and Annie at Mammasaurus and How Does Your Garden Grow?

School Run Colours
How Does Your Garden Grow

19 comments:

  1. The berries this year are in such abundance, and the colours! A very welcome pop of vibrancy this time of year.
    Never realised that holly came with not spiky leaves!

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    1. There are quite a few holly bushes round here with smooth leaves. There must be local garden centre selling them!

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  2. wow! i had never seen them in yellow or in white. so pretty!

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    1. There are lots of snowberries round here. I have to stop my son from picking them as he thinks they are little balls of snow!

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  3. Yes, I've noticed a lot of berries around this year too. They do bring a welcome splash of colour don't they.

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    1. It does seem to have been a good year this year. I'm not sure what that means in terms of old wives' tales!

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  4. I'm still waiting for our pyracantha to produce berries - it's got a great set of leaves but not much else. My pyracantha aside it's been a good year for berries, I've seen a lot growing in the lanes around here. All the birds will look like tennis balls on legs in a few months time :)

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    1. I have seen one pyracantha which has been berry-free all winter. I'm not sure how long it takes for them to mature to produce berries.

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  5. I wish those berries could be eaten - they would make a beautiful tart! I was looking at snowberries today, there's a lot less about then a week or so ago but they are still there. What a lovely view on your usual walks you have - no berries along here - boo!

    Thanks for joining in again Jibbery Jabbery xx

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    1. Apparently you can make jelly with them: http://www.pyracantha.co.uk/how-to-make-pyracantha-jelly

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    2. I've never thought of making anything with them as I always thought they were poisonous. I think I will stick to blackberries and quince though!

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  6. Those colours are awesome! And you have daffodils already?! You must be the first surely?

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    1. It's the amazing Yorkshire warmth and sunshine! They are an early variety but this year they have been very early. Some were out on Christmas day.

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  7. Lovely colours. The blackbirds have been at ours so we have none left! x

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  8. Love all those pyracantha berries, ours have mostly disappeared now but they say a lot of berries signifies a cold winter, not sure how true that is though! #hdygg

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  9. Wow what a shot of colour! You must have lots of birds visiting with a haul like that. Fab photos :)

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  10. OOhhh I can see these berries on school runs and they are always noisy cuz of the birds! I have yet to see those snowberry though. I always see the red and the orange ones =) #hdygg

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  11. What gorgeous colours! I have no idea what most of these berries are, but they can certainly brighten up a dreary winter's day. Thank you for linking up to #SchoolRunColours.

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  12. Beautiful, also love skimmia for the red berries.

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