Amber, citrine, primrose, sunshine, canary, gold, lemon, tawny, aureate, lutescent, xanthic, chrysal, honey, aurulent…
A ripe collection of just a few yellow and golden-fruited shrubs and trees – they have all featured in other entries in the last couple of months – but I thought it would be cool to bring a few of the recently come-upon specimens in one gallery. Red berries are just so last Christmas!
I particularly like the holly, Ilex aquifolium Bacciflava and the golden fruit of the English Yew, Taxus baccata Luteo (the latter photographed at the Savill Garden). The fruit of the Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo) is red when ripe, so including a picture in the gallery is a bit of a cheat – the fruits are certainly yellow, but will not stop there.
Generally speaking, mature yellow fruit tends to be more long-lasting on the plant than either orange or red forms – clearly not so appealing to the birds – but we reap the benefits often until well past midwinter. This is true of pyracantha too I think, though a tapestry of red, orange and yellow berries can look spectacular. I can’t speak for bananas…
I shall keep an eye out for other examples – there is a Cotoneaster Rothschildianus in the road where I live that is dripping with clusters of yellow berries, so there’s one for starters. Camera out at the weekend for a Street Safari…
The Teddington Gardener 