The robins are loving the little red berries on the cotoneaster that zigzags up the wall just outside the kitchen. So are the blackbirds. They don’t seem to feel any rivalry, though I’m reading an enchanting biography of the robin that makes no bones about what a fighter he can be – principally it seems with other robins. I wondered why neither robin nor blackbird seems interested in the other red berries in the garden, on Nandina domestica. We have two plants, one bright red, the other an odd pink/brown, apparently a hybrid with the rare yellow-fruited one.
Why do birds shun them? They contain cyanide. Too many can kill them. In the States Nandina is classified as an invasive nuisance.
If we have a plant of the moment here (and nerines and Iris unguicularis are doing an unconventional duet) it is our prize hosta, the statuesque Sum and Substance. Its leaves, handsomely ribbed and crinkled, are pale green, nearly circular, and easily 18 inches long, mounding up to form a dome. If you manage to keep them slug-free in the spring (it has gradually filled an 18 inch pot, with a top-dressing of gravel, over several years) its jumble of flawless leaves collects admiring looks by mid-summer.
