Are you fond of Shrubs and Bushes with Red Berries for their festive spirit? Read on to find out our list of the best ones.
Shrubs and Bushes with Red Berries can be a lovely addition to your garden as these can provide shelter and food to local wildlife. These plants can also cheer your home with their deep and bright hues!
Check out the best delicious berries to grow in hanging baskets here
Shrubs and Bushes with Red Berries
1. Red Sprite American Winterberry
Botanical Name: Ilex verticillata ‘Red Sprite’
Berries: Edible to birds; Slightly toxic to humans, dogs, and cats
One of the best Shrubs and Bushes with Red Berries, this one is a unique semi-dwarf cultivar and can reach up to 4-5 feet tall. It attracts many types of birds.
Learn how to grow Goji Berries here
2. Spindle Tree
Botanical Name: Euonymus europaeus
Berries: Edible to birds and mice; Toxic for pets and humans
The Spindle Tree, or the European Spindle, is native to Europe and bears beautiful red berries for birds. This upright shrub attracts birds with its unremarkable white blooms.
3. Strawberry Tree
Botanical Name: Arbutus unedo
Berries: Edible to birds, animals, and humans
The strawberry tree, or Dalmatian Strawberry, is a popular garden shrub best known for its delicious and beautiful berries and fragrant, bell-shaped, white blooms.
Do you want to know how to grow strawberries indoors year-round? Click here
4. Linden Arrowwood
Botanical Name: Viburnum dilatatum
Berries: Edible to birds, animals, and humans
It is a deciduous deer-resistant shrub that produces dense clusters of red-colored berries in autumn that turn into a black-red shade in winter.
5. Red Currants
Botanical Name: Ribes rubrum
Berries: Edible to birds, pets, and humans
The Red Currants produce glossy transparent, delicious, sweet berries. This fruit is rich in vitamins C and B and loaded with fiber that makes sweet jelly.
6. Red Elderberry
Botanical Name: Sambucus racemosa
Berries: Edible to birds and pets and beneficial to humans
Elderberry bushes display lovely red berries that can be a good choice for an edible garden. This shrub is hardy in USDA Zones 3-7 and thrives best in full sunlight.
Do Elderberries grow in Arkansas? Find out here.
7. Red Chokeberry
Botanical Name: Aronia arbutifolia
Berries: Edible to birds and humans
Red Chokeberry is native to the central and eastern United States and Canada. The plant grows beautiful red foliage in autumn and white blooms in spring.
8. Cotoneaster
Botanical Name: Cotoneaster
Berries: Edible to birds; However, mildly toxic to humans
This shrub is native to Europe, Asia, North Africa, and China. Its red berries attract thrushes and blackbirds to the landscape.
9. Red Gooseberry Bush
Botanical Name: Ribes uva-crispa
Berries: Edible to birds, mammals, and humans
Red Gooseberry Bush is a shrub you may prefer to grow for its beauty. Grow in full to part sunlight that is hardy USDA Zones 3-8.
10. Sumac
Botanical Name: Rhus
Berries: Edible to birds, pets, and humans
Sumac can be a small tree or a bush that can make an excellent addition to your garden. It thrives best in USDA Zones 5-8 and loves to produce red berries in full sunlight.
11. Sacred Bamboo
Botanical Name: Nandina domestica
Berries: Toxic for birds, dogs, cats, and humans
If you are looking for a medium shrub with red berries, pick Red Heavenly Bamboo for its vibrant leaves. The shrub can grow up to 4-8 feet tall in well-draining soil and full sunlight.
12. Bittersweet Nightshade
Botanical Name: Solanum dulcamara
Berries: Edible to birds; Toxic for dogs, cats, and humans
Bittersweet Nightshade shrub grows ornamental red berries. The fruits look similar to small, red, soft, and juicy tomatoes but are not fit for human consumption.
Take a look at the types of purple flowers here
13. Wild Coffee
Botanical Name: Psychotria
Berries: Edible to birds, pets, and humans
With slender leaves and small red berries, the Wild Coffee bush can be a beautiful choice for border spaces in the garden. Make sure to grow them in well-draining soil.
14. Pin Cherries
Botanical Name: Prunus pensylvanica
Berries: Edible to birds; Edible to humans but very sour
Also popular as Red Cherries, Bird Cherries, or Fire Cherries, these plants grow clusters of red berries that birds really like to munch on!
15. Nanking Cherry
Botanical Name: Prunus tomentosa
Berries: Edible to birds, pets, and humans
Nanking Cherry produces masses of white, ornamental, fragrant flowers, red stems, dark green leaves, and red berries like drupes. The fruit has a slightly tart and sweet taste.
Check our post on how to grow Barbados Cherry here
16. Spotted Laurel
Botanical Name: Aucuba japonica
Berries: Toxic for birds, dogs, cats, and humans
This dense shrub produces light-dark green, glossy leaves with yellow spots. It can look spectacular in your garden with purple flowers and bright, glossy red berries.
17. Butcher’s Broom
Botanical Name: Ruscus aculeatus
Berries: Inedible for birds; Toxic for dogs, cats, and humans
Butcher’s Broom is a small shrub and can grow up to 1-3 feet on maturity, producing red berries that grow best in the shade and well-draining soil.
18. Raspberry
Botanical Name: Rubus idaeus
Berries: Edible to birds, pets, and humans
Another beautiful shrub for your edible garden is the Raspberry. It needs full sunlight and well-draining soil in USDA Zones 3-10 to produce delicious red berries.
Want to Grow Raspberries in Pots? Click here
19. Chilean Guava
Botanical Name: Ugni Molinae
Berries: Edible to birds, pets, and humans
When you pick Chilean Guava, you get beautiful blooms, evergreen foliage, and red berries. With glossy dark green leaves and bell-shaped fragrant white and pink flowers, it is one of the best Shrubs and Bushes with Red Berries.
20. High Bush Cranberries
Botanical Name: Viburnum trilobum
Berries: Edible to birds, pets, and humans
Masses of small red glossy berries like drupes are the main highlight of this plant. The edible tangy berries have a similar sour taste to cranberries.
Learn how to grow blueberries in containers here
21. Hobblebush
Botanical Name: Viburnum lantanoides
Berries: Edible to birds, pets, and humans; Usually, it is not consumed in abundance.
This small shrub loves to spread out low, close to the ground and can grow up to 5-6 feet tall. It grows white flowers with deep green foliage and red berries.
22. Korean Barberry
Botanical Name: Berberis Koreana
Berries: Edible to birds; Edible to humans but very sour
Korean Barberry looks great as a border plant. The plant looks equally pretty with drooping yellow flowers, colorful foliage, and red berries.
23. Buffalo Berry
Botanical Name: Shepherdia
Berries: Edible to birds, pets, and humans
The Buffalo Berry has exciting foliage that reminds one of sage but with bright red berries. It can thrive best in USDA Zones 2-9 in full sunlight.
24. Barberry
Botanical Name: Berberis
Berries: Edible to birds; Edible to humans but very sour
Barberry is a small shrub in a wide range of colors, from green to deep red. With small, elongated red berries, it grows best in USDA Zones 4-8 in loamy, well-draining soil.
25. Winterberry
Botanical Name: Ilex verticillata
Berries: Edible to birds; Toxic for cats, dogs, and horses;
Raw berry is too bitter and unsafe for humans. However, they can be used to make wine, syrups, jellies, and pies.
Winterberry is another top choice for Shrubs with Red Berries that produce delicate, symmetrical, white blooms. The bright red berries hang around in tight clusters.
26. Japanese Skimmia
Botanical Name: Skimmia japonica
Berries: Edible to birds; Toxic for cats, dogs, and horses; Poisonous for children and adults when consumed in larger quantities.
Japanese Skimmia is the perfect delicate, beautiful, evergreen shrub with red berries for a shade garden. It grows fragrant green leaves and pink and cream flowers.