On a recent trip to Brookside Gardens, I spotted several large bushes with clusters of orange berries on them. What was interesting was that there wasn’t just one or two clumps of berries on a branch – there were distinct groups of berries all the way down the branch. The little sign named them as the Winter Gold variety of Winterberry – Ilex Verticillata.

It turns out that Winterberry is a deciduos holly. Later in the year – it will lose all of it’s leaves, just leaving behind the berries. There are a several varieties of winterberry. I’ll keep an eye out for some of the other varieties in the local gardens and try to photograph them later in the winter.

In the meantime, here are a few photos of the Winter Gold Winterberry bush.

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins