red berries

Here are some pics of bright red fall berries.

winterberry (Ilex verticillata)

The winterberry is a plant I keep trying to get into my yard. I've got some on the edge of my yard, and I often scatter berries in other places, hoping they will spread. Winterberries need more than one bush to produce berries, because some bushes produce male flowers and some bushes produce female flowers. They are in the Ilex family, as is holly, which also must grow in pairs or groups to have berries.


spicebush (Lindera benzoin)

The spicebush berries don't cover their leafless shrubs the way winterberries do, but they are just as bright if you find them. This is a plant that I had never heard of until five or six years ago. At that time I was doing some research into wetland restoration, and I discovered that I have spicebush all over my property. It is a lovely plant, in all seasons. It blooms early, smells nice, has pretty leaves that turn yellow in the fall, and the trunks and twigs are interestingly shaped, so it is nice to look at in the wintertime.