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male and female for berries?

Zen DogZen Dog Posts: 51
in Plants
My first time on here so please excuse errors. I'm a total dunce in the garden and a couple of years ago bought a few shrubs for their coloured berries. No one at the nurseries mentioned I would need male and female plants for berry production so it came as a disappointing surprise to find few or no berries on the shrubs after the first year. I have since been searching high and low but had no joy finding "men" plants for my "ladies" (I'm guessing they are ladies as they all had berries when I bought them?).... I would be so grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction. I have bought shrubs online in the past which unfortunately were very unhealthy and all died so am rather wary. I live in north Wiltshire. The shrubs I'm looking for are.... Viburnum davidii, pyracantha soleil d'or and cotoneaster microphylus "spring magic"

Posts

  • Dave MorganDave Morgan Posts: 3,123

    Try the RHS website, I didn't think the pyracantha and cotoneaster needed male cross fertilization, it's usually insects that do the job. First year shrubs take time to get going anyway, so just give the last two time. As for the viburnham try ringing the nursery, they should be able to fulfill any order.

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    Did they flower?

    The cotoneaster and the pyracantha don't need  a friend but I read somewhere that V davidii does better with more than one plant, not sure if it's about male and female in that case though, not even sure if it's trueimage



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • Dave MorganDave Morgan Posts: 3,123

    It is true with the viburnham nut, must say I wasn't really aware of it either.

  • LucyLLucyL Posts: 163

    I have a pyracantha bush in my garden (it was there when i moved in 4? years ago) It is established, but doesn't need a partner to flower and have berries. Maybe its just a bit young, and from when you had bought it, it had to "re adjust" to you're garden and location. so thats maybe why its producing none to very little berries?

    I don't know any information on you're other types. Only bush i was aware of was a Holly Tree, As we had a big tree which never had berries and gran had asked her gardener friend, who took a cutting of his and planted it beside it and now every year it can hardly hold all the berries it produces image.

  • Zen DogZen Dog Posts: 51
    Thank you all for taking time to reply and sorry for delay in posting back. (For some reason didn't receive email to alert me to replies). If I recall rightly I got the m/f info from RHS site. The Pyracantha and cotoneaster are bit smaller than the viburnum so poss younger but all had good crop of berries when I bought them 1-2yrs ago which is main reason I wondered what I was doing wrong. Asked at local nursery last week who told me none needed both sexes to fruit...as far as he knew! So not particularly helpful, haha. He suggested they might need potash feed as opposed to liquid tomato food I give everything (or general long slow release granules), so I figured I'd try that and see if helps. I love the viburnum as its a real "trier" so wouldn't mind another to keep it company but have a vision of ending up with a gang of same sex plants in effort to produce some "pretty berries", haha. Thanks again for the advice everyone.
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