Although the native Mountain ash or Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) have not quite had their usual wonderful displays of bright red fruits in Northern England this year, due to the dry summer, many of the other species of Sorbus have produced very good crops of berries. The winter migrant birds will be waiting to enjoy them.

There are many very varied species of Sorbus with different habits, leaf forms and different coloured berries. Here are just a few of the best ones stocked by Burncoose Nurseries and performing well in the gardens here.

 

If you can cope with the prickles one of the great autumn displays of fruit here this year has been Zanthoxylum simulans. The black seeds which emerge from the reddish seed pods can be crushed to produce a pungent type of pepper, known as Sichuan pepper, to use in cooking.