Arbutus
You just have to love an Arbutus for its versatility. Arbutus is also known as the Strawberry tree due to the small red fruits.
Arbutus forms a handsome evergreen shrub /small tree with lovely shiny red-brown bark that becomes more apparent as the plant matures. The foliage is slightly toothed on the edges. Pendulous white bell shaped flowers, sometimes tinged pink are produced late in the year from September to November. Red strawberry-like fruits are also produced in the autumn at the same time as the flowers and so together they create a wonderful show amongst the dark green leaves at this time of year.
Arbutus like full sun and an ericaceous soil. It is tolerant of pollution and so is fine in urban situations. More mature plants can also tolerate exposed coastal conditions.
Arbutus unedo is the most common plant available. Unedo comes from the Latin ‘I eat one only’ – that says it all for the taste of the fruit!
Two other Arbutus well worth looking out for:
- Arbutus unedo ‘Atlantic’ which forms a slightly more compact plant.
- Arbutus x andrachnoides which is a slow grower but is well worth the wait for its stunning bark colour which is also smooth to touch.
.jpg) |
.jpg) |
| Arbutus unedo Atlantic | Arbutus x andrachnoides |
