Berries in your garden: which ones are poisonous?

Among the delights of autumn are colourful berries produced by a range of plants. Some are edible – but a few are toxic.

Feast: the crabapple Malus ‘Red Sentinel’. Picture: Alamy

Among the delights of autumn are colourful berries produced by a range of plants. Some are edible, others not – and a few are poisonous. Decorative fruits extend plants’ seasons of interest and offer more than just flowers to pick for the house.

The most vibrant berry colour is on Callicarpa or beautyberry species. The clusters of metallic purple-rose beads are not great eaten fresh but make a lovely jelly or fruit sauce, and birds love them. Callicarpa bodinieri is a 1-3m deciduous shrub with a rather informal shape, best used in a mixed planting in mild climates. The native Callicarpa pedunculata, or velvet leaf, is evergreen and brilliant for attracting wildlife in frost-free, semi-shaded positions.

Gorgeous: Callicarpa berries. Picture: Getty Images

Diamond leaf pittosporum (Auranticarpa rhombifolia), from northern NSW and Queensland, is popular as an urban street tree where it reaches about 8-10m, with a crown of diamond-shaped leaves. Creamy flowers appear in late spring but it’s the bunches of large orange berries that grab attention from autumn through winter.

Crabapples (Malus) are grown for their pink or white spring blossoms but many have attractive autumn fruit, too. Borne in clusters like cherries, crabs are best used for jellies and jams. Crabapples are small trees that suit mild to cool climates. ‘John Downie’ grows to 4m with abundant, orange-red fruit; ‘Golden Hornet’ (3m) has yellow-orange crabs and ‘Tom Matthews’ (3m) bears dark purple fruit.

Rose hips. Picture: Getty Images

For small spaces, in shade or indoors, coral berry (Ardisia crenata) is an attractive yet undemanding small plant. From autumn through winter it bears clusters of blood-red berries in whorled layers among the shiny leathery leaves, following the white, late-spring flowers. Also good in shade is sacred bamboo, Nandina domestica; it’s one of the toughest plants around, but the red berries are poisonous.

Blueberry creeper or porcelain vine has the most unusual berry colours and a stonking 16-syllable botanical name – Ampelopsis glandulosa var. brevipedunculata. It’s a deciduous climber with leaves like a grape vine whose pea-sized autumn berries change colour from green to white, then pink, turquoise, dark blue then purple, often appearing together.

More familiar are rose hips, although not all roses produce good fruit. The best are varieties of Rosa rugosa, as well as some of the species roses such as the dog rose (Rosa canina), often seen growing on roadsides, and Rosa moyesii. The orange and red hips are sweetest when touched by frost. They make delicious jam and of course rose hip syrup, rich in Vitamin C.

Q&A

When is the best time to prune olive trees, a mulberry and a Meyer lemon? Don Frayne, Perth

Prune olives in winter. Mulberries are best pruned in late autumn – but light summer pruning is fine too. Although Meyer lemons can crop all year, their main flowering is in spring and the main crop matures in early winter, so the best time to prune is late winter/early spring.

I have two young apple trees, about 1.5m tall, espaliered against a red brick wall on metal mesh. They haven’t grown a lot but the ‘Gala’ has about 40 apples. They seem to be struggling, with dead patches on some leaves and holes in others. The soil is poor and sandy but I’ve used Seasol and Dynamic Lifter. Richard Atkins, Port Melbourne

The leaf marks could be heatburn or sunburn as that position could get very hot, and sandy soils don’t hold water. On hot days, cover them with shadecloth and water heavily in the morning. Add a soil wetting agent, keep adding organic matter and keep the trees well mulched. Holes on the leaves are likely to be from caterpillars or snails; minor damage can be tolerated. It’s best to remove most of the fruit from young trees, in order to focus their energy into growing a strong framework; 40 fruits on a young tree is taxing.

We The Wild: the readers’ letters prize

Write to: [e-mail] or Helen Young, PO Box 3098, Willoughby North, NSW 2068. The best question for May wins organic plant care products from We The Wild, worth $100; wethewild.co. April’s winner is Anne Bulloch of Brisbane for her question about the impact of fairy lights in trees.