Pyracantha Week

OK, I made a mistake. I wanted to call Week 23 Pyracantha Week, and it was true that the flowers were great. But the berries in 2008/36 are even better. So I have undone the mistake and you'll now find Week 23 going under the name Deutzia Week. Right now, the Pyracantha x berries are real eye-catchers, especially the 'Orange Glow'. These are tough bushes, grown in many places beside busy, polluted roads. They can be downright nasty if you get among the thorns. A gent came past the house a couple of months ago and wanted to warn me the roots would get under the driveway and make all the paving stones pop out. He might even turn out to be right. But Pyracantha makes up for all that bad character with its beauty in this week when summer is finishing and when the fruits hang in such heavy clusters. Coming up soon are the Symphoricarpos bushes: their perfect, round white berries will be a harbinger of autumn.

Euonymus Week

This is the week of payback for the inconveniences of having Euonymus europaeus in a Zone 8 garden: the plant's caterpillar and pest infestations in the spring can be a threat to other bushes, but the late-summer appearance (this year in 2008/34) of its bright pink berries is always a wonderful moment. This is also the week when Pyracantha berries are approaching ripeness, starting to grab attention with their oranges and reds.

Deutzia Week

2008/23: Around town, the tiny white flowers of hybrid Pyracantha in masses on the thorny branches are a common eyecatcher at the start of this week. Most are the 'Red Column' cultivar, with a few 'Orange Glow' mixed in to add variety to the effect when the berries arrive. Right now they all look much the same. I have not been able to find any discussion about their ancestry, though 'Orange Glow' was sold to us under the name P. crenatoserrata. Whether that is botanically correct or not I cannot say. In their discreet way, the various Hebe bushes are joining in the merriment with sparse white flowers. Late rhododendrons, like the mauve one conveniently hiding a neighbour's bins, are just coming into flower. The Deutzia x magnifica shrubs are just starting to burst forth, as is Kalmia latifolia. By the end of this week, both reach their peak of delicate beauty. Perennial peonies are blooming, and Lilium henryii too.