Looking fabulous in the winter garden is one of our favorite firethorns, Pyracantha ‘UNCC Dwarf’. Originally shared with us by the late Dr. Larry Mellichamp, this selection is both dwarf and thornless. Although birds love the berries, they usually don’t consume them until very late winter, which allows the color show to remain long after the winter holidays. Our 10 year old specimen is now 3′ tall x 12′ wide. Even with the large number of fruit, we have never encountered a single seedling in the garden.
No fiery thorns sounds great… although… any idea how the deer feel about it?
Although it probably sounds cold, but we’ve never inquired about the feelings of our deer. Since we don’t allow them in the garden, we don’t have any first hand experience, but most on-line lists consider pyracantha to not be a favorite deer food.