Things I Get To I.D. At Work

Iskrystaller på Dværgmispel (Cotoneaster ssp.)

Cotoneaster atropurpureus and Dolichovespula maculata (bald-faced hornet)

Plant of the Day

Sunday 7 December 2025

This is a great use of the deciduous shrub Cotoneaster horizontalis (wall cotoneaster, rock spray, wall spray, herringbone cotoneaster) in this pathway as the repetition holds this planting together. The low-growing, spreading branches have a distinctive, flat, herringbone pattern. The pink-tinged white flowers in late spring are popular with pollinators and are followed by red berries which are winter food for the birds.

Cotoneaster Bud, 2025 Acrylic on wood panel 7 x 5 in. (DM for purchase)

Not only was September proving to be constantly wet and windy, just like the months that had preceded it, but in the wild west Highlands of Scotland the days were now getting shorter very rapidly, and the air, which had never been very warm, was getting noticeably colder. Although the autumn had scarcely begun, the temperature had already dipped into single figures (celsius) at times, and even in the middle of the day there was a freshness which had been absent since the spring.

But Algy's feathers were warm and fluffy, so unlike his human friends he was not disturbed by the falling temperatures; in fact, he was pleased that he could now forget the dismal summer just past, and look forward to a more normal pattern of seasons ahead.

And as the garden was full of ripe autumn berries, he decided to indulge himself a wee bit while he had the chance, for he knew that once the migrating birds arrived from over the sea, they would completely clear the fruit in a matter of days.

Settling contentedly among the branches of a small cotoneaster bush, Algy looked at the scarlet berries around him and, recalling a happy wee autumn poem, he wondered what he could find to decorate himself for the new season:

The morns are meeker than they were, The nuts are getting brown; The berry's cheek is plumper, The rose is out of town. The maple wears a gayer scarf, The field a scarlet gown. Lest I should be old-fashioned, I'll put a trinket on.

Rubies of October