Berry Time

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Honeysuckle ( Lonicera americana?)

I was pleased to see this late Summer that the honeysuckle ( I think L. americana) is re-blooming, and to make the show even more effective are the berries that were set by flowers earlier in the season. Of corse the berries won't last long as the birds love them, but for now they glow in the Summer sun and are a lovely compliment to the later blooming flowers.



Arum maculatum

These Arum berries may be the only europeans amongst this selection, in the early spring they have typical arum leaves marked with black spots, there is a lot of variation in this, so look out for the plants with the best markings.



Caulophyllum thalictroides

The common name for C. thalictroides is Blue Cohosh, I'm not sure if this refers to the fruit or the foliage, which emerges from the ground in the Spring an amazing blue/purple. In "The Explorer's Garden" , Dan Hinkley describes the foliage as "coppery colored" in early spring, but perhaps, being a west-coaster, he is not that familiar with this eastern native. By this time of the year the leaves on my plant are a little worse for wear after a hot, humid Summer, but the fruit are their usual startling blue .



Smilacina racemosa

Smilacina has the common name False Solomons Seal, and is in fact a close Liliacaea relative, it has very showy clusters of small white flowers in the Spring and even more excitingly pink and red marbled fruit in the Fall.





Streptopus amplexifolius

Also in the family Lilicaea, it is a modest plant in bloom but in the Fall becomes highly ornamental when it shows off its spectacular fruit that matures from yellow to orange to red.



Actaea pachypoda

A. pachypoda has the common name Doll's Eyes, but also the more sinister Baneberry, a reminder that this is in the Ranunculaceae family and therefore very poisonous.



Diphylleia cymosa

This fabulous plant has been much written about and photographed by myself and Teza, it has large two-lobed leaves and clean white flowers in the Spring and in the Summer and Fall striking umbels of blue berries. Like Cauliphyllum it is in the Berberidaceae family, which also includes Epimedium, jeffersonia, and Podophyllum.

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