Shrubs that bear purple berries are real eye-catchers, but not common in this country. So many native wild birds had (have to) get used to the atypical food source in winter.
Table of Contents
The colour purple
Violet is the color tones that lie between red and blue on the color wheel. In language practice, lilac is used as a synonym for violet. The individual color nuances are often perceived differently, which can lead to different designations, although it is one and the same color tone. Examples of color names are:
- Purpur
- Mauve
- Boysenberry
- lavender
- plum
- Magenta
- Lilac
- Grape (Traube)
- Sangria
- Eggplant (Aubergine)
- Amethyst
- Purplish black (deep dark violet)
American beauty fruit (Callicarpa americana)
- Occurrence: Gardens and parks (still considered a rarity)
- Fruits: round, berry-shaped drupes, about 0.6 centimeters in diameter, edible, color: violet, magenta-purple
- deciduous
- Growth: bushy, compact shrub
- Growth height: 180 to 240 centimeters
- Growth width: up to 200 centimeters
- Flowers: light blue from May to July
- Leaves: light green, ovate-elongated, hairy on top, up to 20 centimeters long, autumn colour
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: normal garden soil, well drained
- Hardiness: WHZ 6-7
Amethystbeere (Symphoricarpos x doorenbosii) „Magic Berry“
- Occurrence: Solitary or hedge in the garden or tub on the balcony
- Berries: red-purple, magenta, from the end of July
- Growth: broadly upright with overhanging shoots
- Growth height: 80 to 100 centimeters
- Growth width: 80 to 100 centimeters
- Flowers: white-pink, bell-shaped, from June to July
- Leaves: Dark green, oval, two to three centimeters long, deciduous
- Location: sun to semi-shade
- Soil: undemanding
- Winter hardiness: planted out in the garden, frost hardy to minus 28.8 degrees Celsius (WHZ 5)
Bibernell-Rose (Rosa spinosissima, Syn .: Rosa pimpinellifolia)
- other trivial names: dune rose, earth rose, field rose, oat rose, prickly rose, rock rose
- Occurrence: Gardens, parks, for strengthening embankments, slopes and dunes
- berries: purplish black to black
- deciduous
- Growth: upright, slightly arched
- Growth height: 100 to 150 centimeters
- Growth width: 100 to 200 centimeters
- Flowers: simple, white, cupped, fragrant flowers from May to June
- Leaves: Pinnately arranged, green with a red tinge, yellow in autumn, deciduous
- Location: sun
- Soil: sandy, stony-sandy, nutrient-poor grassland, sandy soil, likes lime
- Winter hardiness: down to minus 40 degrees Celsius (WHZ 3)
Note: In Germany, the dune rose is mainly found on the North Sea coast and on the North Sea islands.
Chinese beauty fruit (Callicarpa giraldii)
- Occurrence: Solitary or hedge in gardens and parks
- Fruits: berry-like drupes, (reddish) violet, glossy, up to 0.4 centimeters in diameter, long-lasting, poisonous to humans
- deciduous
- Growth: upright, loose, overhanging
- Growth height: 200 to 300 centimeters
- Growth width: 150 to 200 centimeters
- Flowers: lilac, from July to August
- Leaves: dull green, yellow in autumn
- Location: sun to semi-shade
- Soil: normal garden soil, well drained
- Winter hardiness: down to minus 23.4 degrees Celsius (WHZ 6), winter protection recommended for young plants
Note: The Chinese beauty fruit is also commercially available under the botanical name ‘Callicarpa bodinieri’. This may go back to the name of a variety of the plant (Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii).
However Jasmin (Jasminum officinale)
- Occurrence: as a solitaire on the balcony, privacy screen, green walls, rarely in parks
- climbing shrub
- berries: round to oval; dark red when ripe, later violet
- deciduous
- Growth: upright, overhanging, spreading
- Growth height: 100 to 350 centimeters
- Growth width: 100 to 200 centimeters
- Flowers: white, in clusters, from June to September
- Leaves: pinnate, elliptic, pointed, up to 6 centimeters long, autumn color
- Location: sunny to off-sun
- Soil: stony, sandy, moderately dry to fresh, tolerant of lime, rich in nutrients
- Winterhärte: frostempfindlich
Note: The real jasmine smells and is slightly poisonous.
Evergreen honeysuckle (Honeysuckle, Lonicera nitida)
- Occurrence: Hedges, ground cover, borders, solitaire (often used as a substitute for boxwood), greening of embankments
- Fruits: spherical, purple, pea-sized, from August, not suitable for consumption
- evergreen
- Wax: bushy, compact, dense
- Growth height: up to 120 centimeters
- Growth width: 100 to 150 centimeters (depending on the variety)
- Flowers: small, cup-shaped, creamy white, inconspicuous, in May
- Leaves: small, oval to ovate, fresh green to dark green (depending on the variety)
- Location: sun to shade, does not tolerate wind
- Soil: undemanding, normal garden soil, tolerates salt
- Winter hardiness: down to minus 17.8 degrees Celsius (WHZ 7)
- Varieties with purple berries: Elegant, Maigrün, Lemon Beauty
Evergreen creeping honeysuckle (Lonicera pileata)
- Occurrence: Garden, front yard, industrial and urban areas as borders, hedges, ground cover, underplanting, greening of embankments, roof terraces or roadsides, borders of beds or paths
- Fruits: purple-violet, spherical
- evergreen
- Growth: flat, spreading shrub
- Growth height: up to 80 centimeters
- Growth width: up to 180 centimeters
- Flowers: creamy white to white, cup-shaped, from May to June / July
- Leaves: elongate lanceolate, light green to deep green
- Location: Sun to semi-shade, urban climate resistant
- Soil: normal garden soil
- Winter hardiness: down to minus 23.4 degrees Celsius (WHZ 6)
- Varieties: Mossgreen
Plum-leaved Chokeberry (Aronia x prunifolia)
- Occurrence: in gardens as a solitaire
- Berries: violet-black, 0.6 to 0.8 centimeters in diameter, ripening September to October, edible
- deciduous
- Growth: wide, loose, well branched
- Growth height: 100 to 200 centimeters
- Growth width: 150 centimeters
- Flowers: white umbelliferous flowers
- Leaves: dark green, broadly elliptical, fiery red in autumn
- Location: sunny
- Soil: moist, undemanding
- Winter hardiness: down to minus 28.8 degrees Celsius (WHZ 5)
- Varieties: Nero and Nero Superberry (blue-violet to black fruits, harvest time: late August to mid-September)
Purple beauty fruit (Callicarpa dichotoma)
- Occurrence: Solitaire
- Fruits: berry-shaped drupes, (purple) violet, from September/October
- deciduous
- Growth: compact, bushy
- Growth height: 200 to 250 centimeters
- Growth width: 100 to 150 centimeters
- Flowers: violet, umbel-shaped, from June to August
- Leaves: dark green, ovate to elongated, short-pointed, yellow in autumn
- Location: sun to semi-shade
- Soil: normal garden soil
- Winter hardiness: down to minus 23.4 degrees Celsius (WHZ 6), winter protection recommended for young plants
Tree ash (Sorbaronia)
Sorbaronia is a cross between Aronia and Sorbus (rowan). The various varieties are also commercially available under the name “Sorbus”. The German trivial names are extremely different, such as fruit rowan, Russian shrub rowan.
- Occurrence: in gardens as a specimen or hedge
- Fruits: spherical, red-purple to dark violet, edible
- deciduous
- Growth: shrubby
- Growth height: up to 300 centimeters
- Growth width: up to 200 centimeters
- Flowers: white umbels
- Leaves:
- Location: sun to semi-shade
- Soil: permeable, undemanding
- Hardiness:
- Varieties: burqa, likjornja
