A keeper

As I was looking out my kitchen window the other day, my eyes fell upon the Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium) growing outside the picket fence. As I was appreciating its shiny leaves -- they are a beautiful mahogany color this time of year -- I started wondering why it is that I hear so little about this particular shrub. True, it's not a focal point plant. It doesn't produce particularly showy flowers. But there is a kind of a quiet beauty about it. And, anything that's still looking good this time of year deserves consideration in my book.

This shrub is very easy care. (Actually, I can't remember ever doing anything to mine except pruning a couple of dead branches once.) It grows in most any lighting conditions from deep shade to full sun, though it definitely likes partial shade or dappled sunlight best. It tolerates clay soils and seasonal flooding, but has also done well in drought seasons with little, if any, supplemental watering. About the only place where I couldn't recommend it would be open, windy sites.

Growing 5-6 feet tall at maturity, the shrub produces yellow flowers in spring and blue edible fruits after that, which can be used to make jelly or left to the birds, who just love them. And, because it has spiny evergreen leaves similar to an English holly, it's also rarely bothered by deer.

So, what's not to love?