Shrubs For Winter Color and Birds

Gardeners can enjoy color in the garden during the winter months and provide a reliable food source for birds by planting some easy-to-grow, berry producing shrubs. Three good choices are beautyberry, wintergreen and viburnum.

Callicarpa Americana Known as Beautyberry

This shrub’s common name reflects its most dramatic feature: large clusters of beautiful berries. A native of the southeastern United States, beautyberry grows to 6 feet with gracefully arching branches. The willow-like foliage and small whitish flowers of beautyberry are unspectacular for most of the year, but come the fall, this bush turns heads with its lemon-sized clusters of glossy, neon-purple berries. The berries last well into the winter, and are very attractive to birds. The berries stand out dramatically once the shrub sheds its leaves in late fall. Beautyberry is effective massed in a hedgerow, or as a background plant in a perennial bed. In the coldest climates beautyberry may die back to the ground during a hard winter, but will come back vigorously from the roots.

Gaultheria procumbens Known as Wintergreen or Teaberry

Gaultheira is an evergreen native of North American. Procumbens refers to the prostrate form of this low growing plant. Gaultheria is thickly covered with glossy, roundish leaves. In the spring and summer the new foliage is maroon, providing a nice touch of color in an evergreen border. The plant has small, pinkish, urn-shaped flowers that are barely noticeable among the spectacular summer displays of other plants, but in the winter, this fairly nondescript plant is covered with large, red berries that attract birds. The leaves and the berries of Gaultheria emit a strong, but very pleasant, wintergreen smell when bruised. As the nickname teaberry suggests, both the berries and leaves of Gaultheria can be used for tea. According to Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs [Rodale Press, 1987] Gaultheria contains methyl salicylates, a painkiller similar to aspirin. Gaultheria tea has been used as a folk medicine to treat rheumatism, colds, headaches, and fevers. Gaultheria has also been used for centuries to flavor food, candy, gum and medicines.

Viburnum davidi

This beautiful mound shaped, evergreen shrub grows to about 4 feet high, and bears large dark leathery leaves. In the spring Viburnum davidi has showy clusters of small pinkish flowers, but the flowers do not compare to the winter display of bright blue metallic berries held aloft on rust colored stems. Many species of song birds enjoy the berries throughout the winter. In hot climates, Viburnum prefers partial shade.

Many plants provide a spectacular displays in the spring, but these hardy shrubs are at their very best during the dark months of winter. They provide garden color, food for birds, and the two evergreen species also provide a refuge for birds to escape cats, hawks and winter weather.