Colourful Berberis - December 2020

It was a wet gloomy morning for my photo shoot in dad's garden this week, and I was on the lookout for something colourful.

As it turned out, I found colour in a most unexpected place! Usually at this time of the year, this particular Berberis (Berberis vulgaris) bush is devoid of leaves, but this year it was covered in these wonderfully coloured beauties.

Viburnum Buds - December 2020

There was more colour amongst the Viburnum bushes, with their lovely pink flower buds continuing to develop.

Mahonia Japonica - December 2020

The Mahonia (Mahonia japonica) bushes, which only a couple of weeks ago looked like they'd be flowering well into the New Year, were now looking quite bare in terms of buds and blooms, which was a little disappointing.

Hydrangea Bract - December 2020

The Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) bush bracts were now in an advanced stage of decay, but I thought they still retained a photogenic quality.

Ivy Berries - December 2020

The Common Ivy (Hedra helix) berries continued their slow journey along their road to ripeness.

Quince - December 2020

Meanwhile the Japanese Quince (Chaenomeles) bushes had some quite large fully formed fruits ready for picking.

Pyracantha Bounty - December 2020

The saga of the Pyracantha bushes continued, with lots of berries still remaining on most of the specimens around the garden.

Stolen Treasure - December 2020

However, the Blackbirds had finally taken an interest in one of the bushes, and had begun to strip the branches bare of fruit starting at the top.

So this week I went with Colourful Berberis as my Image of the Week simply because the leaves provided a lovely flush of colour from a most unexpected source...