Meet our Community: Gus
August 4, 2022
Say hello to Gus...
Gus came to placement at Sunderland Home Grown with his mam (Debbie) 4 years ago. He soon settled into the position of resident trouble maker and little stinker.
Winning the hearts of everyone that visits the site, Gus now thinks he is the main attraction of the project and loves to sit on everyone's knee who visits.
Considered one of the most attractive ornamental fruiting shrubs, Callicarpa bodinieri is a hardy, medium-sized (up to 2.5m high), deciduous shrub that is often referred to as Bodinier's beautyberry. It is native to West and Central China, mainly around the provinces of Szechwan, Hupeh and Shensi, but it was named after Émile-Marie Bodinier, a French missionary and botanist who was stationed in Peking during the 19th century. Broken into its individual Greek words, Callicarpa means beautiful (kalli) fruit (karpos).
Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’ is a UK-hardy, evergreen shrub with glossy holly-like leaves and bright yellow bell-shaped flowers that appear between November and March. It is an excellent choice for anyone seeking a shrub with year-round ornamental value, particularly when placed towards the back of a mixed border, where its prickly spines may help to deter unwanted intruders. Its spherical dark violet berries ripen in the Summer and attract a variety of songbirds, including robins and sparrows.
Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ is a species of dogwood native to most of Europe and western Asia, where it thrives in damp woodland edges and hedgerows. It is a deciduous broadleaf shrub with small, creamy-white flowers that bloom in May and June. It is typically grown for the brilliant, flame-coloured bark of its stems, which is bright orange-yellow at the base and red at the tips. Dogwood looks particularly stunning when planted with evergreen shrubs and among spring flowers, as they loose their leaves in winter which exposes the attractive stems.