Thursday 31 December 2015

Colour Collaborative: December: Berry



Berries are the jewels of winter. While everything else is pale and frosty or in every shade of brown, berries are a splash of carmine in a monochrome landscape, all the better for birds to find them. Whichever season they ripen in, the birds will never be far behind to gorge on the edible fruits.

This is the perfect time of year to add berries to the garden. Bare root strawberries or soft fruit canes will settle in happily now and start to bear fruit in the summer. Firstly the fresh green of acid sharp gooseberries, then pale green strawberries swelling in June. They're usually ready in time for Wimbledon.




Then come the deeper reds of raspberries and tayberries, with their delicious tangy taste. The clear crimson of wineberries. And at the allotment handfuls of the deepest purple blackberries.




In pots on the patio are blueberries. I photograph them endlessly as the berries change from an icy pale green to pink to purple before they reach perfect dark blue ripeness. They like ericaceous soil but otherwise they're easy to grow and very pretty as well. In autumn the leaves turn a spectacular range of vivid reds.



Berries are the easiest of things to grow. They are undemanding but every year they give one of the best harvests in the garden. If there's a sunny corner in your garden I guarantee you won't regret popping in a plant or two.

It just remains for me to wish you all the happiest of New Years. I shall be resolving to do all the usual stuff - be healthier, lose weight, write more, achieve a few things. You never know, 2016 might be the year it sticks. CJ xx

To visit the other Colour Collaborative blogs for more of this month's posts, just click on the links below: 

             Annie at Annie Cholewa               Gillian at Tales from a Happy House

             Jennifer at Thistlebear                 Sarah at Mitenska

What is The Colour Collaborative?

All creative bloggers make stuff, gather stuff, shape stuff, and share stuff. Mostly they work on their own, but what happens when a group of them work together? Is a creative collaboration greater than the sum of its parts? We think so and we hope you will too. We'll each be offering our own monthly take on a colour related theme, and hoping that in combination our ideas will encourage us, and perhaps you, to think about colour in new ways.


31 comments:

  1. What a wonderful jolt of summery berry delights! Thanks for that it was fun to see them and think that summer will come again.
    *:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*
      *H*A*P*P*Y* *N*E*W* *Y*E*A*R*!*
    *:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*
    ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  2. Yum. I feel guilty looking at all your lovely berries - I once, in a fit of overenthusiastic clearing, managed to remove our raspberry canes by mistake - R has never let me forget it! I do love having a freezer full of berries to throw into breakfast smoothies. Best wishes for 2016. xx

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  3. Summer colours during Winter - what a visual delight. Happy New Year, CJ. May 2016 be a colourful and creative year for you and your blog :) xx Giselle

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  4. Mmm summer berries. It was such a fantastic year for strawberries and raspberries this year. The weather has been so mild that most of the pink tinted white berries on my Sorbus hupehensis are still there providing food for my thrushes and blackbirds. I sat in the kitchen early this morning drinking tea and watching them while my bread baked and the sun rose. Magical. Best wishes for a happy, healthy and creative new year CJ.

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  5. Gorgeous summer fruit, something to look forward to. And I think this may have to be the year I plant a blueberry bush or two on the lottie - you've inspired me! Happy new year x

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  6. A most enjoyable post and lovely pictures.
    Happy New Year, Flighty xx

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  7. Berries are my favorites! Unfortunately, they don't really grow well in Florida ......you can do some blueberries, but in my yard the deer and birds would have a feast long before I would.

    I have to suffice with the berries on my one holly tree! LOL

    I'll enjoy the photos of YOUR berries!

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  8. Strawberries and blueberries are my favourites, yum yum. Wishing you all the very best for 2016.

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  10. I'd love to grow blueberries in a pot in the garden here but - how to put this delicately - I live with a lot of boy dogs ... do you think I could grow them in a hanging basket?

    Fab post CJ. Happy New Year :)

    (Apols for the deleted comment but that was a very dodgy mistype!)

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  11. Replies
    1. Yes, I have blackcurrants at the allotment, three enormous bushes, and more fruit than I know what to do with every year. There are always blackcurrants in the freezer, they're brilliant, and I hardly do anything to the bushes. CJ xx

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  12. A berrylicious post. Here's wishing you a super-duper new year CJ. Sam x

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  13. I don't think you should resolve to change too much, CJ. I'm rather fond of you just the way you are xx

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  14. I have a small strawberry patch and I think those strawberries, though few in number and very small, are the best ones I've ever tasted. And strawberries happen to be my favorite food, so I feel like I'm in a position to know. :) I wish you and yours a happy new year too.

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  15. Berries really are wonderful and beautiful and tasty things aren't they! Happy New Year! Here's to a good 2016! xx

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  16. I love your take on the theme - and we planted a few fruit canes in the new garden long before we'd actually moved in. Fingers crossed they've survived the deluges!
    I hope you have a wonderful New Year and a wonderful 2016 too :)
    Sarah xx

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  17. What a lovely burst of summery goodness in the middle of Winter! Loved that, thank you CJ. Happy new year to you. Xx

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  18. Lovely pics as always. Must try some blueberry plants this year. Wishing you and yours a very Happy New Year CJ xx

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  19. Love berries! As a child my Gran took me forraging for all kinds of berries. We would bring them home and I would set up shop selling different types of berries. I don't remember her telling me not to eat them in case they were poisonous...it's amazing I'm still here! Have a happy new year CJ and I hope your resolutions come true. B X

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  20. Your berries look delicious dear C.J., lovely images. Wishing you and your family a very happy, healthy New Year!
    xoxoxo ♡

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  21. Berry bonanza, I love it! We don't seem to be able to grow raspberries, the plants are happy for a short while and then slowly wither away.... Happy New Year to you and your family CJ. I have enjoyed reading your blog all year round and I am very much looking forward to reading more this year. xx

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  22. Not a berry in sight on this side of the pond, though the little babe did request that we make some jam. Luckily I have a couple bags of frozen strawberries left. Happy New Year CJ - I wouldn't worry about the resolutions.

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  23. Berry nice..
    Happy New Year CJ x

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  24. I have a lonesome raspberry that has managed to ripen in this exceptionally mild weather we are having. Shame I'm about to cut down the canes! Lovely photos Happy New Year xx

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  25. Lovely blog and photos, especially the summer berries, reminding us summer will come again, wishing you and yours a very good New year :)

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  26. Oh gosh...fresh strawberries! I'm planting up a whole raised bed this year, I'm hoping to get some raspberries in somewhere too! Happy 2016 my dear :) xxx

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  27. Gorgeous berries, a welcome reminder of what we have to look forward to :-) xx

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  28. Enjoyed this post - the promise of all those tasty goodies to come this year. You certainly have a productive allotment/garden.
    Happy New Year!
    Caz xx

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  29. Such beautiful photos of your your various berries! Your observation: "Berries are the jewels of winter," is so true. We have several blueberry bushes tucked in amongst evergreens and an out of control forsythia bush. We could grow a better crop were we to water them during the dry months! At any rate I am interested in knowing you can plant strawberries at this time of year. Happy New Year! xx

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