Winterberries
by John Kirkland
Title
Winterberries
Artist
John Kirkland
Medium
Photograph - Digital
Description
Winterberries delight humans and birds alike. They loose the leaves in the fall neighbors every fall and attract and feed a large variety of birds. Wood Thrushes and Gray Catbirds use them for fuel during their fall migration but Eastern Bluebirds, American Robins, Cedar Waxwings and woodpeckers find Winterberries irresistible too.
It Takes Two...Winterberry plants are either female or male and you need both to produce fruit. I found this quote from Dr. Larry Mellichamp, author of Native Plants of the Southeast on the North Carolina Audubon website a little more than helpful (TMI): One male can service six females...and different cultivars have different bloom timing. Good pairings are the female Winter Red with the male Southern Gentleman cultivar, or the female Red Sprite and Jim Dandy or Apollo (but the Southern Gentleman just won’t work for her).
Uploaded
April 13th, 2022
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