Sunday, October 16, 2011

What's Blooming Now - Barbados Cherry 10/16/2011











Barbados Cherry is a Texas native. It blooms in the fall, and the flowers are followed by large red berries that are edible (and much loved by the birds). There is a miniature version of Barbados Cherry on the market. I also grow that one, but I am not very impressed. As the name implies, it stays very small. I'm not sure what use it has in the landscape, it seems pretty insignificant to me because it stays so small. The miniature has a nice rounded form which requires no trimming. I have not figured out how one would use it effectively in a garden. The leaves are tiny and light green in color, the flowers are small, and the berries are small. All in all, it is not a showy plant in miniature. The large Barbados Cherry has larger leaves and they are a nice dark green. Both versions are very slow to come back after winter. In my zone 8b garden the plants come back from the roots, not the branches, so I cut mine back to the ground after winter is over.

No comments:

Post a Comment