My Meadows Farms visit was rewarding yet expensive! I went to buy shredded pine mulch and to check out potential replacements for some probably 44-year old shrubs by my front door.
I did some good research and then decided to walk around "just to take a look" to see if there were other new things there and spotted tree-form Serviceberry 'Autumn Brilliance'. I've been looking for tree-form Serviceberries for years, and recently bought a tiny Amelanchier arborea, so I bought an 'Autumn Brilliance' so that each will produce berries.
I remembered to buy mulch too.
FALL FOLIAGE AND BERRIES END OF SEASON PICS!!
what a score, Muddy! LOL on remembering mulch
Yes, I'll need that mulch! I mulch everything right after planting in the hopes of hiding the freshly-dug earth from the squirrels and birds.
Smack me!?! VV started it!! LOL
How is that working out for you Muddy?
So far so good, Sequoia. I'm also trying to hide the evidence by covering the new mulch with dried leaves, old mulch etc....anything to make them think "nothing happened here"!
hahaha Muddy! Remember to walk away, hands in pockets, whistling...
Today might be good for me to get some pics- though dogwood is all I can think of for berries. Plenty of those because they volunteer, otherwise I guess I'm lacking in fall fruit. The berries have all gone from Devils walkingstick.
Lol Sally you're a riot!
I've got a couple of young viburnums out back, but no blooms/berries.. have to concentrate on them next year, I think. I know I've taken up a bunch of potential native plant space back there with rhodi's and lilacs, because I can't resist them... and I'm planning to put in a bunch of volunteer ROS along the back edge... but I figure I can always cut down the ROS (rose of sharon) screen later and replace them with more desirable trees; they're just what I ahve on hand at present.
LOL, Sally! At least I didn't have a mockingbird following me around as I was planting today, waiting for me to finish so it could look for worms!
Although it was really hard for me (not), I did away with a hard-to-mow part of the lawn today so that I could plant a Buttonbush that has been languishing in its pot. Mostly because it was the easiest thing to do, but also to appease the birds and critters, I left a patch of freshly dug earth for them to dig in (and heavily mulched the rest).
Photo 1 shows the Ilex 'Sparkleberry' that shared a pot with 'Apollo'. Apollo's berry-less branches are at the bottom. Photo 2 shows the gang of 3, with the male/female shrub(s) in the middle.
This message was edited Oct 12, 2014 5:08 PM
gorgeous, muddy!
Thanks, Sally! It'll be interesting to see how many berries are left a few months from now.
Nice pics Muddy....I still don't know how I feel about a shemale plant though ;-P
My Red Sprite berries persisted most of the winter last year. I was really surprised.
About persistent berries- I think I've read a theory that they get sweeter as winter progresses and the birds just eat them later for that reason? Or that they never taste all that great but at least they are there for late winter eating?
I'm fostering American Holly babies, for eventual berries, but it could be years before I know which are female/ male.
How much area can a Male Holly cover with pollen, generally?
Who around here would know the intricacies of Holly berries? hm...
Lol...
I think that the berries get better tasting as the winter progresses. I know for chokeberries, it's said that the birds won't touch them until after the first freeze.
Don't American Holly plants flower after the first couple years? I always thought that hollies and winterberries were good for pollination within 100 yards of each other. I could be wrong though...now how about that expert??
I read one time that crab apples in particular start fermenting, and the birds get slightly intoxicated LOL. Don't know if it is the same for other berries.
My lespedeza is blooming right now. This is a really pretty, easy to grow perennial. One of my faves...
Well poo... the images aren't loading. I'll try again later
This message was edited Oct 13, 2014 9:41 AM
I have a five foot tall volunteer Holly of some sort , in full sun, that has yet to show a flower of any kind. The babies are couple years old now, small and in shade so I expect them to take their time about it.
Poo, aspenhill , bummer.
Hmm...that's a stinker Sally, I was hoping for more of an 'instant gratification' for my little baby that Gita gave me at the spring swap. Oh well, at least the foliage is pretty.
Jeff--
Talking about American Hollies--how is the one doing that I gave you?
Has it grown much?
Non-plant question:
Are we left to deal, with the links we all pass around, as black-non-clickable??
Requiring a c/p in the URL to open them?
G.
Yeah G, the one you gave me is doing fine. It grew itself a leader, so hopefully that trend continues next year. I hope it's a female though. I'm getting another one from a neighbor this weekend but it's a baby too.
I think deer might be tempted by the Winterberries before the birds are, so if birds aren't going to eat them until late winter anyway, I'll keep spraying them with deer repellent so I can enjoy the winter display.
I have 4 Aronias, 2-3 Aronia melanocarpa (1 might be arbutifolia) and one Aronia arbutifolia 'Brilliantissima'. Only 2 have berries, which are still red. I'm not sure what's up with the others; maybe I'll have to buy another that is definitely A. arbutifolia.
I just checked on my hollies: 4 American Holly volunteers ranging in height from 3-9': no berries.
2 Oakleaf hollies, 6' and 10': no readily apparent berries, which isn't surprising because I found out after I bought them that this cultivar produces few berries.
Maybe all the black berries from the melanocarpas got eaten? Interesting that they don't produce berries for that long. I never would have thought.
Jeff---
If I remember correctly--the huge American Holy that used to grow
in the back part of my back-yard neighbor's lawn (closer to mine)
had berries on it. It was tall and very bushy. It was, maybe, 15'
from my shed bed, which is where I found the seedling Holly I gave you.
It was wedged between the wall of the shed and a landscape tie which sits
smack against that wall. I am sure it had to struggle to even germinate
So--it grew out in a crooked shape just trying to reach some light, because
my Knockout Rose is right in front of this spot to make things worse.
The neighbors that lived there are long, long gone.
The big Holly got cut down long before the neighbors moved out.
Just telling you all this to shed light on how old this tiny seedling Holly may be.
IF the seedling is, actually, from this big, old Holly bush. Birds could have eaten
a Holly berry from anywhere--perched on the edge of my shed roof, and
"planted" the seed where it grew.
In that case--who knows where it came from--or what "gender" it is.
Here is where it grew....somewhere in the crack between the landscape tie and the shed wall.
Just went out and took this picture--As if you needed to even know all this....:o/ ????
Only time will tell---Gita
Oh wow, thanks for the history G! Hopefully it will grow a nice leader where I have it, which is in sun from 10-6ish. It did grow a leader a few weeks after I planted it and it shot up to about even with the rest of the foliage so hopefully that continues.
Ok, here's what I found on Ilex Opaca from the national forest service:
"Flowering and Fruiting- Hollies are dioecious; male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers, similar in appearance, with four to six small white petals, are produced on separate plants on the current season's growth. The male-to-female ratio for 1,930 seedlings from 10 randomly chosen, open-pollinated pistillate trees was 1.03 to 1.00 after 9 years had elapsed and all seedlings had produced flowers. Flowering began as early as age 3 and the latest bloomed at age 9, staminate plants flowering somewhat earlier on the average than pistillate. For this reason, the male-to-female ratio at age 5 was about 5 to 1 (5)."
Here's the link if any of you are interested:
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/ilex/opaca.htm
It looks like the males reach reproduction age sooner than the females from the research they've done. Just the opposite of humans....
thanks for the research Jeff.
Gee whiz...
http://www.hollysocam.org/knowgrow.htm
I can't be any more expressive without crossing the boundary into proselytization.
But if prodded...
Sequoia, none of the berries on the A. melanocarpa have begun turning black. I guess that's the difference a zone makes.
Thanks for the links, VV and Sequoia.
Thanks for the link VV
I didn't know American Holly is such a southeastern thing. I was brainwashed by all those Christmas cards of holly leaves with snow on them.
Oh ok, so the berries on the melanocarpa start out red and then turn black?
Please VV.....proselytize away!!
Join the Holly Society of America, and all your Ilex infatuations will be illuminated...
Come to the HSA 67th Annual Meeting in Rutgers, NJ (American Holly is a mid-Atlantic thing, too, sallyg) on October 22-25, and see yours truly while also touring exceptional gardens/nurseries, listening to scintillating speakers, and getting some of your own plants at the dynamic Plant Auction.
Should you fancy yourself an Ilex insurgent, bring your best branches and enter them in the Holly Sprig competition. It is quite impressive to see and meet the wide range of gardeners and growers, and view the wondrous array of plants composing this genus.
There's good eatin' too.
Sorry, Seq, I over-edited my post. Yes, melanocarpa berries start out red and turn black. I'm not sure whether the Aronias with berries are both melanocarpa, or one melanocarpa and one arbutifolia; I'll find out when the berries change color, or not!
I don't have a lot to show but my three dogwoods that are in full sun are Loaded with berries and starting to turn. Other pic is Clerodendron. Wonder if the berries will attract birds.
Looking good Sally!
I got ya Muddy. The 4 melanocarpas we have don't have any berries but they were first year plants so we'll see next year.
Dogwoods are so gorgeous in the fall !
That Clerodendron has a pretty spectacular looking berry display, Sally.
What species is it? Apparently birds like some C. berries more than others.
thx
That seems to be C trichotomum (sp?) ; it is our peanut butter shrub.
(I'm getting a bit tired of always typing Clerodendron aka peanut butter shrub...lol)
We can look it up ourselves Sally....no worries! :)
Apparently birds don't like all Clerodendron, but do like C. trichotomum. I saw some site that recommended a Clerodendron species because birds left the berries alone.
Going back to Sequoia's info about Ilex opaca: I'm glad to see that the ratio of males to females is about 1 to 1, because then at least one of the volunteers in my yard should produce berries. I haven't noticed flowers on any of them, although I could easily have missed them. I peruse that area of my yard so infrequently that when I do, I often spot 4' tall trees!
This message was edited Oct 13, 2014 8:39 PM
sally--
This seems a bit confusing--at least to me....
When i was working for the grower--we sold HB of Clerodendron.
If I remember--it's blooms were blue.
Am I "losing it"--or is there another form of it that is a hanging plant???
G.
I really don't know the various ones. I've only grown this, and only for three years. Its flowers are white from pink buds.
Oops, I guess it is ClerodendrUM
https://www.google.com/search?q=clerodendron&client=firefox-a&hs=xEZ&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=fflb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=m408VO3vLcygyASxpoG4CQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=565#facrc=0%3Bclerodendrum%20ugandense&imgdii=_&imgrc=_
This message was edited Oct 13, 2014 9:47 PM
According to Plant Files, Clerodendron is a synonym for Clerodendrum....http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/772/
Oh thanks Muddy!
Probably because people kept messing it up, whichever it started as..
There are many really pretty kinds.