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.