Mother’s Nature Garden: The remains of the season

Published 11:22 am Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Until Thanksgiving, November was mild and golden, with perfect days for hiking and wandering trails. The end of the month and early December, however, were a stark contrast. Nighttime temperatures dropped into the low to mid 20s and daytime highs were in the 40s. A bit of a shock, but still perfect for hiking and wandering new trails.

December isn’t about flowers; it’s about small discoveries – for example, seeds, fruits and berries that persist late into winter. They’re all around, so there’s no need to go far to find some.

Eastern red cedars (Juniperus virginiana) are common in our area of the Piedmont. For many years, they were used to make fence posts because they were durable. Even now, it’s not uncommon to find cedars of all sizes growing in old fields, as well as along the perimeters of those fields. The eastern red cedar is evergreen and has gray-green scale-like foliage. The female cones appear as glaucous blue berries that provide winter food for many songbirds.

Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens) grows in wooded areas and is found in every county in Virginia. It’s a very slow growing, creeping evergreen that forms loose mats. In May/June, it produces pairs of fragrant, tubular white flowers. If both blooms are pollinated, then a single bright red drupe follows (a drupe is a fleshy fruit with a solitary seed, such as a peach). The drupes are eaten by game birds and small mammals. Many of the drupes, however, persist uneaten until the following spring.

There are 11 species of Smilax in Virginia, but one of the showiest is red-berried greenbrier (Smilax walteri). It’s common in the Coastal Plain, but rare here in the Piedmont. Fortunately for many of us who walk local trails, it’s found in Prince Edward County.

In both the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont, red-berried greenbrier grows in wet, swampy areas where the woody vines climb over nearby shrubs and small trees to form dense thickets. It’s the only one of the greenbriers to have bright red berries. The berries persist after the leaves have dropped and are eaten by small mammals. There is an abundance of red-berried greenbrier in the bald cypress swamps at First Landing State Park near Virginia Beach.

And let’s not forget that ubiquitous nonnative, Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), which was brought here for use as an ornamental garden plant. It’s a tough, semi-evergreen, woody vine capable of covering anything in its path. From spring through late summer, Japanese honeysuckle produces masses of highly fragrant white blooms, which are followed by globose black berries that are eaten by birds and small mammals. Japanese honeysuckle is ranked as highly invasive in Virginia.

What else can you find? So many treasures. The dried seed pods of cranefly orchids and pink lady’s slippers, acorns, bittersweet, alder catkins, the remains of goldenrod blooms, and much more.

Happy hunting!

DR. CYNTHIA WOOD is a local master gardener.