Gardens: Berries that the birds won't steal

Rowan and crab apple, firethorn and holly – there's no shortage of trees and shrubs that offer beautiful berries. The trouble is, the birds relish them even more than we do. Unless you're busy with a net, the gardener's pleasure can be short-lived. Red berries seem to be especially delicious to birds. So here's a cunning plan – by choosing shrubs that fruit early, or are unusually coloured, we may be able to enjoy the show a little longer.

Porcelain berry

Ampelopsis brevipedunculata is a dense, sturdy climber with vine-like leaves, curly pink tendrils, and the most astonishing fat, round berries, that emerge as an iridescent swimming-pool turquoise and fade to shades of lilac, purple and cream. At Kingston Maurward's walled garden in Dorset this vigorous vine from north-east Asia grows in full sun, on thin, gravelly soil over chalk, fruiting extravagantly and seeding around. Though the books say it tolerates most soils and partial shade, head gardener Nigel Hewish recommends a position with roots in shade and head in sun, like a clematis, and it clearly needs warmth to fruit with gusto. It can get huge (5m up and across), so spring pruning is generally required.

Beauty berry

Imagine a large (3m), deciduous bush hung with curtains of purple Skittles, and you have summed up Callicarpa bodinieri var giraldii 'Profusion'. This, too, grows in the walled garden at Kingston Maurward, along with the species from which it derives. The more liberally endowed 'Profusion' attracts more attention, but its season is shorter, whereas the more sparsely berried species lasts well into the winter. Callicarpa does best in fertile, well-drained soil in sun or dappled shade. While a single bush will fruit well enough in smaller garden (it is self-fertile), it will do even better if planted with one or two friends.

Barberry

Garden centres offer countless varieties of Berberis thunbergii, with fiery autumn foliage setting off a mass of bright red berries. But seeking out some of the lesser-known species will reward you with a more enduring range of berry colours from orange to midnight blue. B. x carminea 'Pirate King' bends under the sheer weight of its shiny pink berries; on B. wilsoniae, the pink stems dangle gleaming clusters of ivory, coral and amber.

Many, especially the evergreens, offer shades of blue, sometimes smudged with a soft bloom, as in the slender hips of B. gagnepainii var. lanceifolia, or with a brilliant metallic sheen, the rare B. sherriffii. B. glaucocarpa has huge, grape-like bunches of glossy, dark berries, while the fragrant flowers of B. julianae give way to small clusters of fat blue fruit, reputed to make good jam. All are virtually indestructible, indifferent to every kind of cruelty and neglect except prolonged waterlogging.

Euonymus species

The loveliest shrub in the autumn hedgerow is the fiery-leaved spindle (Euonymus europaeus), and cultivated forms are the ideal way to introduce a whisper of the wilderness into the garden. In a small plot, you can thin them out into graceful, small, multi-stemmed trees: the canopy is light and their well-behaved root systems give plenty of scope for underplanting. Easy in any soil, in sun or shade, euonymus are quiet most of the year – then suddenly blow their cover with an eye-popping display of bizarrely shaped fruits in intense lipstick shades. Some are tiny, such as E. alatus varieties – just a magenta sheath over a single orange seed. E. latifolius, by contrast, has a waxy red seedpod, the size and shape of star anise, from which the seeds dangle like a Murano chandelier. Stranger still is E. cornutus var. quinquecornutus – with five-pointed seedpods resembling jester's hats.

Harlequin glorybower

Even more extravagant is the extraordinary fruit of Clerodendrum trichotomum var. fargesii, with berries of titanium blue set like gemstones into plump star-shaped calyces of deep fuchsia pink. This is one of those borderline hardy shrubs that seemed to be doing fine until last winter. In Dorset, mine survived lows of -12C. I would still chance it in more northern climes in a sheltered spot, for it is glorious in every season, with coppery young foliage, followed by headily fragrant white flowers. It has a habit of suckering, so do not plant it in a lawn.

Yellow-fruited guelder rose

So many of the viburnums have excellent berries, so which to choose? Viburnum opulus 'Xanthocarpum' (2.5-4m) finally comes out top not only for its juicy clusters of translucent, honey-coloured berries (the birds will eat them eventually, but not till everything red and orange has gone), but because it has so many other virtues – delicate, white lace-cap flowers, fine autumn colour, and infinite patience. Over a decade in my garden, this heroic shrub has been hacked to the ground, moved from boggy conditions to dry, from dappled to deep shade, and been overrun with head-high weeds, yet continues to grow, flower and fruit regardless. Imagine what it would do if you treated it well.

Where to buy

Farmyard Plants; Kevin Hughes plants; Perryhill nurseries.