I do like a sorbus – all those wonderful coloured berries are a delight every autumn and the funny thing is I forget just what a little miracle they are until the next time.
See what I mean? And then there is the tree itself, choose well and you will have a compact and pretty showstopper with a graceful habit, spring flowers, berries and good autumn colour. Sorbus has many common names — including whitebeam, rowan, service tree and mountain ash — and is a genus of around 100 species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the Rosacea family. They aren’t a very long lived tree but that doesn’t worry me and I would planting a S. ‘Joseph Rock’ which is particularly susceptible to Fireblight, one of the few downsides to sorbus in general.
Take this graceful beauty with pearly pink berries, Sorbus hupehensis ‘Pink Pagoda’. This is a native of China, a type of mountain ash thought to have come into our gardens in the 1920s. Just take a closer look at these berries.
simply gorgeous.
I also like S.cashmiriana (from Kashmir), which has plump porcelain white berries on long pink stalks and green pinnate leaves.
Sorbus Sunshine is very well named,
and for a classic red try Sorbus Aucuparia ‘Cardinal Royal’.
You may not have room in your garden for a new tree but look out for these in all their glory as you walk along the streets of our area. They are a good plant for wildlife and have been in favour with councils as a street tree.
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