In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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November 8, 2007

Pretty pyracantha--but mind those thorns!

I’ve always admired gardeners brave enough to plant pyracantha.

I am especially envious of gardeners who have great sweeps of pyracantha making long, plump swags of red, orange or yellow berries. It literally shouts “autumn” to me, and the clumps of berries beg to be cut and put in a fall holiday table cornucopia.

Its drawback? It isn’t called firethorn for nothing. The plant produces generous numbers of needlelike thorns. Further some people find the scent of the flowers unpleasant. I find it pungent and interesting, but not unpleasant. I have friends who swear the flowers have more stink than smell, and that the fragrance reminds them of sweaty armpits.

The Sunset Western Garden Book says pyracantha grown as shrubs and ground cover look better and produce berries more heavily when allowed to grow naturally. Conversely, they also look great trained as espaliers on a fence or trellis. They’re pretty foolproof, only succumbing to overwatering and occasionally fireblight.

Choose landscape plants carefully because, depending on the variety, pyracantha can grow from two or three feet tall to 12 or 15 feet in height. Most produce red berries, much loved by birds, although some varieties make yellow or orange berries that are very beautiful.

I have a bank along the front of the house that just might be the perfect place for some low growing pyracantha, and if I plant now, then next year I'll be admiring my own plants and I'll be clipping stems of berries for the house from my yard.

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