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Grow your own holiday decor for a convenient supply of berried branches to clip for holiday containers, window boxes, centrepieces, wreaths, garlands, and swags. Not only are these plants perfect for providing lots of berried branches for decorations, they’re also beautiful landscape plants. Berry producing shrubs also provide food and shelter for birds and add interest to the cold season landscape. In this article you’ll discover four native shrubs with berries you need to plant in your garden.
Grow your own holiday decor with these 4 berry-producing shrubs:
Below you’ll find my favorite berried shrubs to grow for holiday and winter decor. These can be planted anytime from early spring through late autumn so if you’ve got some space in your garden, get planting!
1) Winterberry (Ilex verticillata)
This hardy deciduous holly is native to much of North America thriving in part shade to full sun. It can even take damp soil conditions, making winterberry a very versatile landscape plant. Because they’re deciduous, winterberry holly plants lose their leaves in late autumn, making the heavily berried branches stand out in the fall and winter garden.
There are various cultivars to choose from with red or gold berries and mature sizes that range from two to eight feet tall. Be sure to select a winterberry holly that suits your space. You’ll also need at least two plants as there are separate male and female plants. One male plant pollinates up to five female plants resulting in lots of berries for your holiday decor.
The native species, often called common winterberry, is a standout plant producing dense clusters of bright red berries. My favorite winterberry holly cultivars are Berry Heavy Gold, Berry Poppins and Mr Poppins, and Berry Heavy. These are all available at nurseries and garden centres.
2) Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)
If you’ve never seen a beautyberrry shrub at peak berry, prepare to be blown away! The long, arching branches and mounding form are attractive all season long, but when the berries mature in autumn, the branches are absolutely covered in clusters of small purple berries. Yes, purple!
Beautyberry grows 3 to 5 feet tall and wide, and can tolerate full sun to part shade, but yields the most berries when given lots of light. Like winterberry, this shrub is happy in rich, moist soil so if you have a damp spot in your garden, grow beautyberry there.
Popular cultivars include Pearl Glam, which has green-purple leaves and iridescent purple berries and Profusion, a shrub with, as the name implies, massive clusters of violet-purple berries.
3) Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)
The white to blush pink berries of snowberry are an elegant option for winter and holiday decorations. The shrub itself is relatively compact, growing between 3 and 5 feet tall and blooms in early summer. By autumn, the flowers have morphed into clumps of plump berries all along the length of the branches.
Like other native shrubs, snowberry is easy to grow, reliable, and tolerant of a wide range of light and soil conditions. The common snowberry is a fine choice for the garden, but cultivars typically have better berry production. Magical Avalanche is beloved for its large snow white berries while Sweet Sensation is a cultivar with large pearl-like berries that run from light to deep pink.
4) Coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus)
Coralberry is a low-growing native shrub with attractive arching branches and quickly naturalizes into a dense thicket. It’s perfect for a woodland garden or beneath tall trees, providing lots of food and protection to birds.
The main season of interest for coralberry is autumn though winter because when the leaves fall, the vibrant pink to burgundy-purple berries are visible. It’s tolerant of sun to full shade, but produces the best show of berries when grown in sun to part shade. Popular cultivars include Proud Berry, a coralberry with pink berries whose color deepens as the temperature drops, and common coralberry which boasts tight clusters of burgundy-purple berries.
Grow your own holiday decor: Tips for smart harvesting
- Use garden shears – Always use sharp hand pruners to clip branches for holiday decor. It ensures clean cuts to reduce the risk of disease and pest issues. Never try to break branches from the shrubs.
- Cut back right – Be mindful when pruning berried branches and always cut back to a healthy set of buds or side shoots. Don’t leave long stubs at the end of branches.
- Don’t take too much – Smart pruning means knowing how much to take and I never remove more than 25 percent from each plant. This reduces stress and helps the plant recover quickly.
- Store in water – Keeping the just-cut branches in water until you’re ready to use them ensures they’re hydrated and extends their shelf life.
Interested in learning how to grow your own holiday decor? Get more inspiration here:
Are any or all of these shrubs deer resistant? I have heavy deer pressure and am trying to plant things they may avoid.
Great question Diana.. Winterberry holly is classified as ‘very rarely damaged by deer’ according to Rutgers University. As is snowberry and coralberry. Beautyberry is not as resistant, but is typically considered to be less bothered by deer. However, it does depend on the deer as well as certain deer eat anything and others are more choosy. To sum up, all of these are resistant, but three of them are highly resistant. Regards, Niki