I've loved these plants ever since my parents grew them in Arizona when I was a child. They could survive droughts, grew rampantly, responded quickly to hard pruning, and never failed to put on a gorgeous show with the white flowers later turning into the beautiful orange berries. The birds loved those berries! It was funny that when the berries were very old, but still on the plant, they would ferment and must have gotten a bit alcoholic! Birds would eat them and later be acting like they were tipsy. Some would land on the fence, and fall off while others staggered around on the ground. It never seemed to hurt them.

I now grow one here in NM. It is having a hard time because the deer are keeping it pruned way down. They do have hard thorns, but the deer don't seem to mind the thorns. Mine here doesn't flower as much, or get the berries like they did in AZ, but they still make a very nice plant with good winter color.

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Valuable source of nectar and pollen for honey bees.

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