In this episode, I share the story of a garden design client, Jacquie of Byram, NJ, and how we shared life stories that often happen in the garden and amongst nature.
We chat about Beautyberry, her newest favorite plant. Then there's the Winter Beauty of Winterberry, which wildlife also loves.
We wrap up with the Legend of Winterberry and what makes some berries good and some berries bad.
Related Stories (and Episodes) and Helpful Links:
Berries for Winter Beauty and Wildlife
She’s a Beautyberry
Winter Beauty of Winterberry
Ep 86. The Revival of an American Holly - featuring Ellie’s memorial tree
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I'd love to hear about your garden and nature stories. And your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com. Thanks so much for tuning in.
You can Follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook and Instagram #MaryElaineStone.
Episode web page —Garden Dilemmas Podcast Page
Thank you for sharing the Garden of Life,
Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer
AskMaryStone.com
More about the Podcast and Column:
Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.
It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.
Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
Direct Link to Podcast Page
Ep 142. Berry Plants for Beauty and Wildlife
Sat, Jan 06, 2024 11:24AM • 11:10
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
berries, garden, plant, winter, share, gardens, feathered friends, native, grows, dilemmas, life, arranged, photo, landscape, branches, holly, dear, red berries, gardener, mary stone, garden, nature, inspiration
SPEAKERS
Mary Stone
Mary Stone 00:00
Hello fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone and welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights and Discoveries. It's not only about gardens, it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.
Mary Stone 00:26
Welcome to the new year, a new leaf, a fresh start. When you think about it, we have a new start every day. So wake up with gratitude for the gift of today. And I want to thank those that reach back about last week's chat the Essential Nutrients for the Gardens and Life featuring the gift of green gardening pencils from my dear Ken. It seems others have a love for Blackwing pencils. They actually are a fine art supply. And they do have different densities of thickness as you use them so you can create some amazing art.
Mary Stone 01:01
Anyway, I want to thank those of you that have also sent in some of your favorite nature and garden quotes. So keep them coming because I'm looking forward to sharing them with all of you. And if you have your own wisdom that you would like to share, please do that as well.
Mary Stone 01:16
Speaking of thank you, I send an email to my associates and clients each new year thanking them for the joy of working together. And I picked a special photograph. This year I was considering a Winterberry photo that I took at Camp Mohican, one of my favorite meditative spots up the road of peace. I ended up choosing an etching of crystals on my windowpane that looked like a swath of feathers or ferns with the sun rise, gleaming through it - it's quite spectacular. But the Winterberry photo brings to mind a story that I look forward to sharing today. And it starts like this.
Mary Stone 01:57
Hello fellow listeners and readers. It's a marvel how life brings people together. It's one of the joys gained from the work that I do, especially when I rub shoulders with fellow gardeners - many far more accomplished than I in terms of nurturing plants, such as the case of Jacquie of Byram, New Jersey, who reached out for design assistance when my dear mama began her long journey home.
Mary Stone 02:23
I vividly recall the day we first spoke; it was May of 2015 already steamy in Virginia where mom was. I wasn't sure when I'd returned because of mom's ill health. But we arranged a tentative meeting time. And so began our sharing of life experiences. Isn't it true that we share life stories when we're in the garden or walking in the woods or being amongst nature? There's something about it that releases the tension of day-to-day living and gives us the freedom to really speak heart to heart. It's one of the reasons I do this with you each week.
Mary Stone 03:00
The day we met it was torrentially raining but no matter, with garden boots flocked with flowers and a rain jacket, Jacquie gave a tour of her property. It was quickly apparent she was a passionate gardener with perennials beautifully arranged. Plus, a charming vegetable garden with a surrounding wooden structure her husband built. Jacquie pointed and named each plant noting from where they came. Many were divided from dear friends’ gardens, just as she shared cuttings with them.
Mary Stone 03:32
The avid gardener had been dreaming, planning, and saving to build a garden around their home and shared a doodle drawing of a rustic natural stone path and patio with nooks and crannies for pockets of plants. She was singing my tune because I love that look. It's kind of what I have here. We worked together to create a landscape of her dreams with various colors, primarily purples, pinks, and yellows adding to the lovely plants she already had. We discovered an outcropping of boulders after removing weeds, which became a haven for magnificent moss plus a shade garden with a respite spot. The installation was a process over three years.
Mary Stone 04:15
I had asked Jacquie early in the summer if I could come to take photos when the colors were at peak. But it wasn't until late in the season that we could arrange a visit. She had been occupied tending to her beloved cousin, who she felt as though she was a sister who passed away in June. We didn't dwell on that. Instead, we toured her gardens and once again Jacquie pointed out plants that she added and ones that she lovingly moved to the spots where they would be happier.
Mary Stone 04:44
This is my newest favorite plant. She pointed to a Beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma) with its light green foliage and branches lined with soon to ripen tiny lavender pink berries. It's one of my faves too and dear resistant. It berries best in full sun, though it can take part shade and zones five to eight. She may die back and rough winters here, but not to worry. She blooms on new wood.
Mary Stone 05:12
They love to be in groups to cross pollinate, which augments the iridescent berries that coat their branches reaching full glory by October. The berries persist after the leaf drop and are a source of food for our feathered friends. While Callicarpa dichotoma is native to eastern Asia, the Americana is native to the southeast and grows a bit larger to six feet tall and wide.
Mary Stone 05:36
The native beauty berry is said to repel mosquitoes and the berries can be made into jelly or wine. What a beautiful thing. Garden dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone.com
Mary Stone 05:49
So, while I was up there tending to putting away the deer netting around my vegetable garden. I noticed my beauty berry and there are some berries still on it. But they are declining. I mean it is after all January. But there's another native plant in his glory, the winter beauty of Winter Berry.
Mary Stone 06:09
While enjoying the respite from gardening we can relish the winter landscape filled with many treasures, such as the winter beauty of native Winterberry I came upon along with access road to Camp Mohican and Blairstown New Jersey. The red berries are brilliant against the dry grasses with the recent snow adding to the radiance. As I jumped out to snap a photo, I thought I must add this beautiful plant to the property come spring.
Mary Stone 06:35
Ilex verticillata is deciduous is deciduous giving the berry center stage after losing their leaves. Native along the east coast and western Missouri it grows in low lying moist woods, though you find it on higher drier grounds. It’s also called Black Elder. Winterberry is an adaptable plant hardiness zone three through nine. They thrive in full sun to part shade and moist soil with a pH of 4.5 to 6.5. And while they'll sucker especially in wet conditions, they aren't invasive, making them ideal for rain gardens or as a swath along the woodland edge.
Mary Stone 07:13
Birds love the berries once they soften, which is why they remain on their branches well into the winter before our feathered friends have their feast. And while deer may eat the berries along with squirrels, raccoons, mice and rabbits, the plant is rated seldom severely damaged by Rutgers University's Deer Resistant List. I should note that Winterberry is toxic to humans, dogs, cats, and horses but only mildly so. But given its importance to wildlife, winterberry planting where pets won't indulge is prudent. There are cultivars of Winterberry to consider. I go on to share some of my favorites, and I will put a link in the show notes.
Mary Stone 07:53
There’s a Legend of Winterberry I came upon from a long-ago children's show, Bear in the Big Blue House. The Legend of Winterberry song tells of a hungry bear coming upon one lone berry. Then he sees another bear meandering by. The lyric— "Come one, come all, come short and tall, sing hi-dee-ho-dee-dairy. And what would you do if it were you with just one Winterberry?"
Mary Stone 07:59
The Hungry Bear chooses to share the tiny morsel. "And because he did when the cold and freezing night at last came to an end. There were berries blooming everywhere."
Mary Stone 08:33
So it occurs to me as you look around the winter landscape. There are other berries to enjoy and what makes a good berry instead of a bad berry, which all has to do with invasiveness because there's plants like Barberry which has beautiful red berries that birds love but because of them eating them and disposing them and their excrements. They're taking over the woodland floors, so we don't use Barberry anymore and landscapes. And of course, there's fire thorn in the fall with those gorgeous orange berries and bittersweet, both considered invasive.
Mary Stone 09:05
But then there's the American Holly, a plant that I adore - very dear resistant. And you may recall I planted a Mary Holden American Holly in memory of my dear Miss Ellie Mae. And that was featured in Episode 86 The Revival of an American Holly, I invite you to tune into that. There is a sequel to that story. In the early spring that very same American Holly dropped all her leaves, and I didn't think it was going to recover. But I gave it some TLC and some fertilizer, and it made an incredible recovery. So, it is a tree that I admire. It's rather small right now but it will grow just as we are growing in this garden of life as we learn and share together and just witness the world around us living in the moment living for today. Waking up each day and gratitude for the privilege of a new start.
Mary Stone 10:00
So, thanks for coming by, I always enjoy our time together and I hope you have as well. Welcome 2024 or whatever it is you're tuning in. I would love to hear more of your stories that are special to you about nature or your gardens, things that you admire or experiences that you've had that have changed your life. And the more stories that you give me, the more stories, we can all sit down and chat about together. I so appreciate our community growing and it's because of you. Here's to a new year of growth. I hope it is glorious. See you next time on the screen porch.
Mary Stone 10:40
You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook or online at Garden Dilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag Mary Elaine Stone. Garden Dilemmas, Delights and Discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch. And always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.