Don’t they look bright and cheerful? It has been a freezing week and the flowers and plants in the Watermill gardens and grounds are quite rightly waiting for more signs of spring until they burst forth. So these bright red berries of the nandina* bush add a much-needed splash of colour. We have three or four of them scattered about the garden and grounds, and not only do they give winter colour, they also have lovely red/purple foliage which adds variety to the summer months.
*For years we have been calling them nandini, but a moment’s research on the Royal horticultural Society’s website confirms that correctly this is Nandina domestica, “an elegant small shrub of upright, bamboo-like habit. The compound leaves with lanceolate leaflets, purplish when young and again in winter. Small white flowers in large panicles are followed by red berries.†But a Nandina by any other name would look as great and brighten our winter weeks.
As the Watermill gardens become alive we will bring you more pictures of our Italian rural Spring.
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