Plant Focus: Cotoneaster
Evergreen cover, winter berries and a genus that rewards choosing the right species
Cotoneaster belongs to the rose family, Rosaceae, alongside apples, pears, hawthorn, rowan and pyracantha. The family likeness shows in its small white flowers and its clusters of red fruit. Most species come from the mountains of eastern Asia, above all the Himalaya and south-west China. The RHS currently recognises 269 of them, from flat alpine mats a few centimetres high to shrubs the size of a small tree.
The first species reached Britain as ornamentals in the nineteenth century, and the genus has been widely used in landscape planting ever since. Most of the species grown are evergreen or semi-evergreen, none of them carries thorns, and nearly all flower in early summer before setting a heavy crop of red, orange or scarlet berries that colour through autumn and often hang well into the new year.
That timing is the reason November is the month to look at Cotoneaster properly. The berries are at their fullest just as natural food in the hedgerows begins to run short, and the evergreen species keep a planting scheme looking dressed after most deciduous shrubs have dropped their leaves.
Cotoneasters are also unusually tolerant. They grow on chalk, clay, loam and sand, cope with dry ground once established and take a good deal of exposure, while the low species form a dense, weed-suppressing cover on banks and slopes where regular maintenance is difficult. Few shrub genera cover such a wide range of jobs, from ground cover and structure planting to informal hedging and screening.
Key Characteristics:
✓ Evergreen, semi-evergreen and deciduous shrubs of the rose family, Rosaceae
✓ Clusters of small white or pink-tinged flowers in early summer
✓ Red, orange or scarlet berries from autumn into winter
✓ Thornless, unlike the closely related pyracantha
✓ Habits from prostrate ground cover to large shrubs of around 4m
✓ Tolerant of most soils, dry spells and exposure once established
✓ Flowers visited by bees, berries eaten by birds through winter
Did You Know?
The name Cotoneaster joins cotoneum, the Latin word for quince, with the suffix -aster, which signals a partial or imperfect likeness. It was given in the eighteenth century to shrubs whose leaves looked a little like those of the quince.
Choosing the right species
Five species of Cotoneaster are listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, the schedule covering non-native plants that have spread into the wild. They are Cotoneaster horizontalis, C. bullatus, C. integrifolius, C. microphyllus and C. simonsii, all added in 2010. Birds eat the berries and carry the seed, and on limestone grassland in particular these species have spread far enough to smother the native plants around them.
Selling them is not an offence, but planting them in the wild or causing them to grow there is, and the RHS advises choosing alternatives near open countryside, protected landscapes and nature reserves. This matters on landscape schemes because fishbone cotoneaster, C. horizontalis, is one of the best known plants in the genus and still turns up on older plant lists.
None of the varieties recommended below is on the schedule, and between them they cover every role the listed species are usually chosen for, from low ground cover to informal hedging and screening. Naming the species and cultivar on a plant schedule, rather than writing “Cotoneaster” alone, makes sure the plant delivered is the plant intended.
Cotoneaster in landscaping
Low, spreading cotoneasters are among the most widely used ground cover shrubs in commercial planting. Many of the prostrate types root along their stems as they spread, knitting into a continuous evergreen layer within a few seasons and holding the soil on banks, cuttings and embankments where grass is awkward to cut. The same plants fill the front of shrub beds on housing schemes, the planting strips beside car parks and the margins of roads, where they need little more than an occasional trim along the kerb.
Among the taller species, Cotoneaster lacteus and C. franchetii both make informal hedges and screens, and the RHS singles out C. franchetii for trapping airborne pollutants, which makes it a useful hedge along busy roads. Because none of them is thorny, they are also easier to live with beside footpaths, cycle routes and building entrances than pyracantha or berberis.
The early summer flowers are visited by bees, and the berries feed blackbirds and thrushes through the winter. In the years when waxwings arrive from Scandinavia in large numbers, cotoneaster planted around car parks and retail sites is often where the flocks are seen feeding.
Popular cotoneaster varieties we recommend
Cotoneaster × suecicus ‘Coral Beauty’
An evergreen shrub forming a dense mound of small, glossy, dark green leaves, reaching 0.5m to 1m in height with a spread of 1.5m to 2.5m over five to ten years. White flowers in summer are followed by a generous crop of bright orange berries. The arching, mounded habit covers ground quickly, which makes it a dependable choice for banks, verges and the front of shrub borders. Grows in any well drained soil, acid or alkaline, in full sun or partial shade, and does best with some shelter from cold winds. It holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit.
Cotoneaster dammeri
A vigorous, prostrate evergreen around 20cm tall, spreading to 2m or more, with small, oval, veined leaves up to 4cm long. Small white flowers appear singly or in small clusters in early summer, followed by bright red berries in autumn. The flat, ground-hugging habit makes it one of the most practical cotoneasters for slopes, banks and large areas of low cover, where it suppresses weeds once the stems have joined up. Grows on chalk, clay, loam or sand as long as the ground drains, and performs best in a reasonably sheltered position.
Cotoneaster radicans
A very flat, trailing evergreen closely related to C. dammeri, and often listed as a variety of it. The name radicans means rooting, after the stems that root where they touch the soil. White flowers in early summer are followed by red berries in autumn. The close, carpet-like growth suits path edges, low banks and the ground beneath signage or windows, where taller cover would block sightlines.
Cotoneaster conspicuus ‘Decorus’
Commonly known as Tibetan cotoneaster, a low-growing evergreen with arching branches and narrow, glossy, dark green leaves, reaching 1m to 1.5m in height and 1.5m to 2.5m across. Small white flowers in summer are very attractive to bees, and the RHS includes it on its Plants for Pollinators list. The red berries that follow are long-lasting, often holding well into winter. Works well in mass planting, low informal hedges and coastal schemes, and holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit. Grows in any well drained soil in full sun or partial shade.
Cotoneaster URBAFLORA® ‘Urban Carpet’
An evergreen ground cover of around 20cm spreading to 2m, low enough to run under railings and sight lines without ever needing cutting back. The leaves are small and glossy, and the growth knits together densely enough to hold a bank and keep weeds down. White flowers in May and June are followed by bright red berries through autumn and winter. It takes anything from full sun to full shade and a wide range of soils, and is drought tolerant once established, which suits it to car parks, verges and other urban planting where nobody is coming back to maintain it. Plant at 60cm spacing.
Cotoneaster franchetii
An evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub with gracefully arching branches and small leaves, glossy grey-green above and white beneath. Clusters of pink-tinged white flowers in early summer are attractive to bees and are followed by oblong, orange-scarlet berries. It reaches 2.5m to 4m in height and spread over ten to twenty years, and is one of the most widely used cotoneasters for informal hedging and screening, particularly along roads where its ability to trap pollutants is an advantage. Copes with chalk, clay, loam or sand, in exposed or sheltered positions and in sun or partial shade.
Cotoneaster lacteus
Commonly known as late cotoneaster, a dense evergreen shrub with arching branches and large, oval, leathery, dark green leaves up to 6cm long, white and hairy beneath. Broad clusters of milky-white flowers, the source of the name lacteus, are followed by small red berries that ripen late and last well into winter. At 2.5m to 4m tall and wide it makes an excellent hedge or screen, and it holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit. Tolerates exposure and grows on chalk, clay, loam or sand, in sun or partial shade.
How to grow and care for cotoneaster
Cotoneasters accept almost any soil except ground that stays waterlogged, and once established they grow well on dry, thin or poor ground where many shrubs would struggle. They tolerate some shade, but flower and fruit best in full sun, so the heaviest berry crops come from sunny beds. The larger-leaved evergreens can suffer leaf damage on very exposed sites in severe winters, which is worth bearing in mind on cold, windswept schemes.
Plant ground cover types close enough for the stems to meet within two or three seasons, since bare soil between young plants is where weeds take hold. A mulch across the bed after planting helps in the same way. Water through the first summer or two until the roots are established, after which most cotoneasters need no regular irrigation.
Little pruning is needed to keep a good shape. Ground cover types only need cutting back where they spill over paths or kerbs, and larger shrubs can be lightly pruned in spring or after flowering. Hard pruning in late summer removes the wood that would have flowered the following year, and renovation of overgrown plants is best done in early spring, accepting the loss of one season’s flowers. Formal hedges may need clipping in spring and again in summer, and any work on a large shrub or hedge should wait until nesting birds have finished.
The berries are ornamental and are toxic to people and pets if eaten in quantity, which is worth considering when planting next to play areas.
Pests and diseases
Cotoneaster is a reliable genus and most plants give little trouble. Fireblight, caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora, is the one that matters most, since cotoneaster belongs to the same group of the rose family as pear, hawthorn and pyracantha. It shows as sudden wilting and blackening of flowers and shoot tips, as though the growth had been scorched, and affected wood should be cut out well below the visible damage with tools disinfected between cuts.
Aphids, including woolly aphid, scale insects and the caterpillars of the cotoneaster webber moth can all appear, the last of these spinning silk webbing over the leaves. On healthy, established plants none of them usually needs intervention. Honey fungus can occasionally affect cotoneasters, as it does most woody plants, most often where old stumps or roots are left in the ground.
The best protection is a plant that arrives clean and in good condition. Greenwood is Plant Healthy certified following independent audit across all our sites, with a structured biosecurity policy behind it, because a pest or disease that arrives with the stock is far harder to deal with than one that appears later.
Low ground cover for banks and slopes, robust shrubs for hedging and screening, and a winter crop of berries for birds from almost any soil make cotoneaster one of the most useful shrub genera on a planting scheme, as long as the species is chosen with care.
If you would like more information on the Cotoneaster varieties we grow and sell, speak to the G Team today.