berries

Some color in the winter garden…

The sun came out today and I took a tour around my garden, basking in the warmth.  As I passed each plant, mental notes began to form. 

Cut this one back in a month…this one fared really well in the last freeze…oh no, I should have covered that one…and, best of all…hey — this one is blooming!

Against the backdrop of grey and brown, several bright spots dotted the landscape.

 If you were a bird, wouldn’t you love spending the winter here?

 Although the roses have turned to hips, the tips of the branches remain alive with budding color.

 Apparently, the cold weather agrees with my viburnum.

 My absolute favorite spring bloomer, Japanese Quince, has begun showing off bright flowers against it’s spiny, sculptural branches.

 And next to it, the primrose Jasmine is bursting into blooms and buds as well.

 The variegated ascot rainbow spurge has been transformed from the lime and yellow stripes it sported in summer to this rich, dark green and burgundy. 

And the sight of yaupon holly berries brings the woods to life with their shiny fruit.

While I’m certainly eager for the budding days of spring, it brings me a sense that all is right with the world as I watch the garden unfold across the seasons, as it is surely meant to do.

Mystery!

Ok – I think this may be a variety of Duranta that was pruned into a tree. It was given to me 10 years ago when my dog was dying and I’ve babied it all these years without knowing what it was. Looks just like the berries on yesterday’s photos at Zanthan Gardens … and that got me thinking.

It has tiny, delicate white blooms on the branch ends and produces small, yellow berries on thin strands. What do you think??!!!! Has anyone out there ever had a white duranta variety that matches this description? I’ve never had even a guess to go on, so I’ll go trolling for web info and see what I come up with. In the meantime, put your gardening caps on and let me know what you think!

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5 minutes online, and ta-dah!

My tree is a Duranta Erecta, commonly called Golden Dew Drop or White Sky Flower or Pigeon Berry Alba. I can’t tell you how exciting this is! The internet is an amazing thing. I’ve had a purple duranta in my back yard for a year — it’s shrub like and small and has purple flowers and produced no berries thus far. But reading Zanthan Gardens’ Blog – I looked at this one and its form and it reminded me so much of my tree, I started to search. Thanks for the help (albeit unknown!).

This is just another reminder to me of why I love to blog and to read blogs and to surf around the web. There is so much information and creativity and beauty out there — just waiting at our fingertips. Not to mention the sense of community and the comraderie that I get from belonging to such a great group.

So, I’m going to bed happy and content tonight.

By |2017-11-29T23:27:59-06:00January 16th, 2008|berries, Blog, Sharing Nature's Garden, trees|0 Comments
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