Why every garden needs Cotoneaster

The ultimate berried treasure, these useful shrubs offer so much more. They’re good for winter interest, wildlife, walls, hedging… pretty much everything, says Louise Curley

- Louise Curley

GOOD structure and plants that provide long-lasting interest are important for every garden. But in a small space this is even more crucial – only hard workers need apply, and few are more hardworking than cotoneasters. Or, for that matter, more diverse.

Fact: there’s a cotoneaster to suit your garden, whatever its size or conditions. Members of the rose family, they are native to temperate Asia, Europe and North Africa, but most come from southwest China and the Himalayas. They range in height from ground-hugging types to large, tree-like shrubs; some can be trained as wall shrubs while others make good hedging plants.

Most cotoneasters are hardy, resilient plants that can tolerate some shade – although they’ll flower and fruit best when planted in sun. And one of their most attractive attributes is that they’re fabulous for wildlife: the spring flowers act as a magnet for pollinators while birds love tucking in to the berries.

The foliage of cotoneasters can be evergreen or deciduous, with some putting on an attractive display of autumn colour. And then there are those berries, produced in copious quantities, in a choice of eye-catching colours: red, yellow or orange.

Choose with care

The most commonly grown cotoneaster is C. horizontalis, which has a distinctive herringbone pattern of branches. But did you know that it’s now classed as an invasive species? Along with C. simonsii, C. integrifolia, C. microphylla and C. bullatus, it’s listed on Schedule 9 of the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, which states that while these plants can be grown in private gardens, they cannot be planted in the wild (and should be prevented from escaping into the wild) in England and Wales.