The strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) puts on a late-autumn show of little flowers and bumpy fruit at the same time.

Now is the time to visit nurseries for plants that put on a late show. Remember to plant plenty because birds love berries as much as we do, albeit for their taste and nutrition rather than visual effect. Using berried plants is a great way to attract a variety of birds to the garden. While your trees and shrubs sustain winged visitors, the birds in turn add color and flight's rhythmic beat to the garden — more than making up for what they so eagerly pilfer.

Along with the more familiar berry-laden plants such as pyracantha and skimmia, and the many species of rugosa roses with vivid hips, are a wide assortment of plants that sport berries in surprising shades from glowing lilac to a turquoise as exquisite as a tropical sea. As you choose among the many possibilities, remember to think of colors and textures for the vase as well as the garden, because berried twigs and branches can serve beautifully in arrangements all through the holidays.

Beautyberry is the common name for Callicarpa bodonieri var. giraldii ŒProfusion,¹ and no wonder. Its lustrous lilac-lavender berries are like no other.
Mountain ash (Sorbus hupehensis) has unusual white berries that stand out dramatically against crimson foliage late in the season.		Harlequin glorybower (Clerodendrum trichotomum var. fargesii) puts on a technicolor show with turquoise fruit at the center of brilliant pink calyxes.

Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) is in the madrone family, hence its need for sun and well-drained soil, and its richly textured, rusty bark that is especially effective when the plant is pruned up into a tree shape rather than grown as a large shrub. It is a slow-growing evergreen with a spreading habit; 'Compacta' and 'Elfin King' both stay under 10 feet. Late in the year, the strawberry tree puts on a show of fruit and flower at the same time, with little white or pink waxy flowers highlighting bumpy fruit in tones of yellow and orange turning to bright red by Christmas time. Bring some inside for an instant arrangement of flowers, fruit and foliage all on a single branch.

I've planted the entire wild back bank of my garden with a variety of elderberries, which grow large and lusty despite neglect and lack of supplemental water. The elderberry Sambucus nigra 'Aureomarginata' is a deciduous shrub that grows quickly to 8 or 9 feet, but can be kept in bounds by cutting it nearly down to the ground in early spring. It has flat, white flower clusters in summer, and late in the season clusters of shiny black berries on pink stems contrast with the pale, patterned foliage. After the cream-trimmed leaves fall, the berries persist, hanging on the bare branches until the birds finish them off.

The elderberry (Sambucus nigra 'Aureomarginata') has shiny black berries that hang on after the leaves fall.

Cotoneaster horizontalis has low-lying, fishbone-like branches that provide good color close to the ground.

Mountain ash are prized for soft, ferny foliage and their hardy pest- and disease-resistant nature. Sorbus hupehensis is a flashy version that grows fairly slowly to 25 feet, and has bluish-green leaves. By late summer, plentiful white-blushed-with-pink fruits (rather than the more usual mountain ash orange berry) highlight the foliage, and a bit later show up beautifully against the hot orange-red autumn foliage.

Years ago, I used to walk my German Shepherd by a garden that had the most unusually striking plants I'd ever seen. The mid-sized shrubs blended into the rest of the garden in summer, but in autumn they stood out as a cluster of sticks coated in intense lavender beads glossed with a metallic sheen. I asked around and no one seemed to know what they were, until finally a naturalist from the Washington Park Arboretum identified them as beautyberry or Callicarpa bodonieri var. giraldii 'Profusion.' I've had several in my garden ever since. Beautyberry is a bushy deciduous shrub that grows slowly to 6 feet wide and tall, with tapered bronze-green leaves, pale-pink summer flowers, and lavender-lilac berries unlike those of any other plant.

Harlequin glorybower (Clerodendrum trichotomum var. fargesii) is a razzle-dazzle carnival of a plant. While most of the year it offers quiet charms, come autumn it explodes with a show of nearly unbelievable colors. A small deciduous tree (to 8 to 10 feet), the variety fargesii has large leaves that come on bronze in the spring, turn mid-green in summer, and offer a surprising scent of peanut butter. Sweetly fragrant little white flowers bloom in late summer, but the main justification for giving it garden space becomes clear in late September and October when brilliant pink calyxes surround vivid turquoise fruit for an inspired combination of colors in the autumn garden.

No discussion of autumn berries would be complete without including the more conventional but always pleasing color combination of orange-red berries and green leaves. A number of plants offer this combo, but none is as useful in shape as Cotoneaster horizontalis, whose splayed, fish bone-like branches are an excellent groundcover, especially on slopes. This time of year they do double duty of providing leaves (which turn a rich mahogany color before they fall quite late in the year), and brightening the garden at a lower and more visible level than the berries strung along tree branches. Cranberry cotoneaster (C. apiculatus) has a similar branching pattern, the same sun and good drainage requirements, but its berries are much larger and showier, reaching the size of plump cranberries. Birds seem to leave these berries alone to continue their show through the winter; perhaps the narrow, arched branches are too wobbly to afford a comfortable perch for snacking.

Valerie Easton is a horticultural librarian who writes about plants and gardens for Pacific Northwest magazine. She is the co-author of "Artists in Their Gardens" (Sasquatch Books). Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com. Richard Hartlage is the author of "Bold Visions" (Fulcrum Publishing).