The most beautiful perennials with decorative fruits

Red berry perennials

They are the most numerous. With their scarlet hue, these fruits are perfect for bringing vitality and colour to a flowerbed. It is a warm shade that stands out from afar! Depending on the species, they can be borne in dense and massive spikes, solitary, or in loose and airy clusters, creating a more delicate and natural effect.

• The Araceae such as the Calla palustris, the Arum italicum, or the Arisaema produce bright red fruits gathered in dense spikes on the axis of the spadix. Their berries are toxic as they contain calcium oxalate crystals.
• The Maianthemum bifolium is a rhizomatous woodland perennial that produces a beautiful light white flowering spike in spring, followed by small clusters of white berries that turn red.
• The Canadian Dogwood, Cornus canadensis, is a spreading perennial that bears at the centre of its whorled leaves, forming a sort of cradle, a small cluster of 4 to 7 bright red berries.
• The lovely small white bells of Lily of the Valley, Convallaria majalis, give way to charming little red balls, pendulous, each attached to the floral stem by a pedicel.
• The Actaea rubra and the Smilacina racemosa produce red berries gathered in loose and airy clusters.
• The Indian Strawberry, Duchesnea indica, gets its name from its fruits that closely resemble small strawberries (more rounded), but have no culinary value. They are edible but tasteless and can cause digestive issues if consumed in excess. Like strawberries, it is actually a pseudocarp (not a true berry), formed by the fleshy floral receptacle.
• As for the Iris foetidissima, it produces capsules that open in three valves to reveal beautiful fleshy orange-red seeds.

The red berries of Arum italicum, Maianthemum bifolium, Cornus canadensis, Convallaria majalis, Duchesnea indica, and Iris foetidissima (photos: Dominicus Johannes Bergsma / Bjoertvedt / Neelix / Agnieszka Kwiecien / Wouter Hagens / Dinkum)