June Berries
We think of fall as the season of fruitfulness, but there are a number of plants bearing ripe fruits in June. These are the plants displaying attractive fruits right now in our garden.
To start with, there is Serviceberry (Amelanchier x grandiflora ‘Autumn Brilliance’), also known as Juneberry for obvious reasons. The berries above are not quite ripe, mostly because once they ripen they are gobbled up by Robins or squirrels. Sometimes I eat one or two myself.
Incidentally, our two Serviceberries definitely seem to be more vigorous since they got out from under the shade of the neighbor’s Crabapple.
A friend of mine calls this the Sputnik Sedge, but the more commonly accepted common name is Bur Sedge (Carex grayi). The seedheads look like space satellites or medieval weapons, depending on the bent of your imagination. I have a small patch growing in a planter I made out of an old tree stump.
And yes, that’s variegated Bishop’s Weed (Aegopodium podagraria) growing with the sedge. In our garden it has not been unmanageable.
Last fall I planted a couple of Red Baneberry (Actaea rubra), and these are the first ripe fruits. There are some other stalks with unripe berries. They’re pretty but poisonous.
In the Left Bank Bed the Starry Solomon’s Plume (Maianthemum stellatum) are ripening. I love the little stripes.
They turn red as they get fully ripe.
Finally, there are the Red Elderberries (Sambucus racemosa). I took this pic with my phone, sorry it’s sort of  fuzzy. I’m starting to think that maybe the Red Elderberries and I need to go our separate ways. They didn’t have many flowers or berries this year and they’re starting to look just weedy to me.
Are there any interesting berries in your garden right now?
gardeninacity 
Oh ya! I have blackberries that I gobble up if I can get to them before the birds do. I also have blueberries, but they aren’t quite ripe, and the mockingbirds will eat them that way so it looks like I won’t get any this year for me. I like the way your bur sedge looks and your elderberries pop with their bright color.
Well, at least the birds are happy.
I noticed a few patches of roadside red elderberry this week. I thought that’s what it would be but after seeing yours it’s definite.
Just strawberries here and they’re gone as fast as they ripen!
Are they eaten by your family or the critters?
it’s all the critters (the non-family ones)
Nice post! Do you use your Amelanchier in jams or anything? I’ve heard it’s possible. I sort of enjoy the huge green ‘berries’ on spikes of asphodel, but coincides with the foliage going rusty and dead looking, so I’m never very sure!
All the Serviceberries are eaten by the Robins and squirrels.
Those elderberries are beautiful. Has something made a cocoon in the leaf?
I don’t think so, I think it’s just a withered leaf.
It hasn’t been a great year for berries here due to the drought-like weather. The berries that we have had have been eaten as they come ripe. Our serviceberry berries are long gone as are highbush cranberry, dogwood etc. We do have blackberries and grapes coming on. I have a nice stand of Jack-in-the -pulpit berries. They won’t last long when they turn red. I will have to look at the soloman’s seal. I forget they get berries. The roses are making hips. I guess I could cut them off so they would bloom again but with this dry weather I have left them to their own concerns.
In the past I have deadheaded roses but this year I’m not sure if I’ll do that.
I grow the Sputnik Carex, too. Such a quirky appearance.
Yes, but it’s grown on me.
Yes, those little stripes! They made me look twice.
Unusual, aren’t they?
The starry Solomon’s plume has such cute berries!
I think so.
The wild grapes are getting bigger by the day.
I love wild grapes, and so do the birds!
You do have some interesting berries. I have an elder tree and it’s always covered in berries, they do grow here like weeds though.xxx
They are a bit weedy here as well.
My serviceberries ripen a month or so ahead of yours. I was thinking mine could benefit from the removal of a large overhanging oak tree branch. (But it is a huge branch and will take someone skilled to remove it.) Also your Starry Solomon’s Plume’s berries are fascinating!
It is too early for the crab apples to be making a statement with their coloured fruits, there are a few raspberries and strawberries of course but nothing ornamental.
They are ornamental when they are on my plate!
I have a small tree of Serviceberry, Jason. I do nothing with them, leave them for birds. About Elderberries I know that some people cook jam with them, but I also do nothing and I think as you do that Elderberry become a weed in my garden.
I also leave them for the birds.