Cotoneaster or Pyracantha

rafuk73

Hi,
I can't decide what plant I can have along my back fence so that I can enjoy looking at red berries in autumn.  I have Pyracantha in front of my house, but wanted to have thornless alternatives. My friend used to have Cotoneaster, but he said with time it stopped producing red berries. Could you please advise what plant I can have if want it to have red berries even when it's mature? Thanks.

Fairygirl

Cotoneasters will still produce berries when they're older, so I'm not too sure why your friend said that. There may have been a cultivation problem though, and it may have been pruned after flowering which would mean an absence of berries  
The evergreen varieties will give you all year round colour too.
Hawthorn also has red berries, but they're not as bright, and it isn't as decorative as those other two. Some roses produce hips which are red, but I don't grow roses so someone else will be able to advise better on those 
If you have enough room, small trees/large shrubs like Amelanchier lamarckii have red berries, but they're usually earlier in the year, although it depends on the variety. 

GardenerSuze

@rafuk73 I have a mature Cotoneaster which has lots of berries at the moment. You do get more berries on the newer wood. It is growing against a six foot fence and you can see the old mature stems, no berries on these but they do form some attractive shapes.

What has been noticable this year are the Pyracanthas which are laiden with berries. I have an orange one which the blackbirds love.

Some Cotoneasters are evergreen but I love C horizontalis which will loose all of it's leaves and leave a lovely shape against the fence over winter. I also grow a variegated form too.

AnniD

My personal favourite is Cotoneaster franchetii
 https://www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/acatalog/cotoneaster-franchetii.html

I have it in the front and back gardens. I also have the orange berried pyracantha. 
With regards to the Cotoneaster not producing berries, l've never found that to be the case. I think that as @Fairygirl says, it may be more to do with pruning at the wrong time.

Fairygirl

I haven't had that problem either re the berries @AnniD. Local climate may be an influence too. I've had cotoneasters of all kinds in every garden I've had and never noticed it. 
I have [I think!] C. franchetii, and it's great against a wall or fence. Mine has been in place around 8 or 9 years. The berries are fabulous, and last a very long time. I find the birds leave them, and have only had a few wood pigeons eating them occasionally. Perhaps that's because there's plenty of alternatives for them, but I usually still have loads left in spring. 

GardenerSuze

My Cotoneaster has had alot of pruning over the years to keep it tight to the fence, which would have limited it's new growth further down. The effect that is created is still attractive. Pruning was necessary to stop it growing into the plants in the border which may have also blocked some of the light to it's lower stems. Mine is west facing but you still get berries in a shadier spot. One very wet winter it nearly gave up but by May it was happy again.
Pyracantha seems to flower and berry better in full sun.

bédé

Try to check out both plants for local performance.  Local birds have local preferences and one plant species might lose its berries quicker than another.

Pete.8

This is a bit of my cotoneaster hedge that was already mature and about 12ft high when I moved here 36 years ago.
It hums with bees in the spring and masses of berries for the blackbirds and thrushes in the winter

Ergates

Haven’t seen any berries on the cotoneaster horizontalis which has been growing along a bank in the garden for years. Quite a few berries on the few bits that have sprouted vertically. I’m not a lover of it, used to see too much of it on the council estate I grew up on, I suspect it was cheap and easy for the council to maintain. 
I do love the look of this pyracantha trained on an old stone wall we pass several times a week.

Fairygirl

There's one in a garden near me @Ergates. It's on a cream, rendered wall and is so sculptural - really beautiful. I can't see it closely enough to see what one it is, but I admire it every time I go past.
It made me consider putting one on a rendered wall I have under my bedroom window. 
They're very useful for that treatment, and also for planting on banks that need stabilising or covering, especially if they're steep and awkward, where other planting would be hard to maintain. Great for wildlife too. 

rafuk73

Thank you all for your detailed responses. I will probably opt for Pyracantha Red Column as I have one and love that punchy red colour in autumn.