Photinia x fraseri
Common name: Christmas berry
Useful cultivars and selections: ‘Shanta clear’
USDA hardiness zone: 7
Mature height and spread: 5 m tall by 5 m wide
Form: large shrub, rounded
Water use: medium
Soil requirements: well drained
Leaf arrangement: alternate
Fall colour: evergreen
Flower/cone/fruit descriptions: red, small berry fruit, white flower clusters
Limitations: needs good air circulation, black spot
Suitable uses: good small scale plant, hedge in full sun with good air circulation, low budget landscape jobs
ID description: toothed leaves, new growth often bright green or bronze/purple/red
Pyrus calleryana
Common name: Callery pear
Useful cultivars and selections: –
USDA hardiness zone: 5
Mature height and spread: 7-8 m tall in urban context (can reach 15 m in good location)
Form: upright, pyramidal
Water use: dry to medium
Soil requirements: well-drained
Leaf arrangement:
Fall colour: orange-red
Flower/cone/fruit descriptions: white flowers, round corymbs, small- smell bad, fruit are pears- doesn’t generally fruit in Vancouver because it doesn’t get cross pollinated
Limitations: very weak tree, looks boring if not fall colour, nurseries grow in limited quantities
Suitable uses: small scale tree
ID description: broadly ovate leaves, shiny on top
Cotoneaster horizontalis
Common name: rock cotoneaster
Useful cultivars and selections: –
USDA hardiness zone: 4
Mature height and spread: 1/2 m high by 2 m wide
Form: horizontal habit, strong lateral branches, shrub
Water use: needs summer moisture
Soil requirements: well drained
Leaf arrangement: alternate
Fall colour: red
Flower/cone/fruit descriptions: bright red fruit, evenly distributed
Limitations: needs space, thinning cuts needed, cotoneaster web worm- only pest in stressful situations
Suitable uses: popular ground cover
ID description: herringbone leaf branching, small leaves
Prunus lusitanica
Common name: Portugal laurel
Useful cultivars and selections: –
USDA hardiness zone: 6
Mature height and spread: 10 m tall
Form: upright, dense shrub, leaves right to base- would form a tree after 100 years or so
Water use: medium
Soil requirements: well-drained
Leaf arrangement: opposite
Fall colour: evergreen
Flower/cone/fruit descriptions: red fruit that eventually turn black
Limitations: cool wet winters, hot dry summers
Suitable uses: good hedge
ID description: leaf is both serrated and undulated
Stranvaesia davidiana
Common name: Chinese photina
Useful cultivars and selections: –
USDA hardiness zone: 7
Mature height and spread: 5 ft tall by 10 ft wide
Form: forms a tree with age, upright, bushy shrub
Water use: medium
Soil requirements: well-drained
Leaf arrangement:
Fall colour: evergreen
Flower/cone/fruit descriptions: red berry-like fruit (like cotoneaster), showy flowers
Limitations: susceptible to same diseases as cotoneaster, fire blight
Suitable uses: attractive shrub or hedge
ID description: hairless leaves, undulate margins
