Often overlooked and underused, Winterberry can actually deliver a very long lasting color feast for the eyes in areas of the landscape that lack excitement. Red Sprite Winterberry has shown itself to be a good performer with a modest size of 3-5 feet while displaying large quantities of brilliant red 1/4″ berries from early fall through mid-winter or longer. Use a Jim Dandy male Winterberry somewhere near your cluster of Red Sprite Winterberry to pollinate and assure the formation of the showy berries.
Most winterberries have a welcome tendency to tightly hold their red berries until spring clean up time in early April. This habit of providing an eye-popping display of red color for months on end makes winterberry a plant to seriously consider for inclusion in your landscape.
‘Berry Heavy’ and ‘Berry Nice’ are two larger sized winterberry that also hold abundant colorful berries for long periods. Winterberry can handle full sun to 3/4 shade, and grows well in many soils, and is quite hardy! I have seen wild winterberry growing in the canoe country where winters dip to -50 degrees F, so hardiness is not an issue.