Mahonia

Evergreen shrubs, with rigid, pinnate leaves often glossy and spiny, but also some colouring well in spring or through autumn. Flowers often scented, normally yellow, but can be orange or reddish. Flowering typically occurs through winter and spring, with pollination by bees likely. An excellent, tolerant, hardy range of shrubs, with the highly popular new introduction Mahonia eurybracteata subsp. ganpinensis 'Soft Caress' being very suitable for smaller gardens. Some sources include Mahonia in the genus Berberis.

All forms of Mahonia are of huge value to wildlife, especially those flowering in the depths of winter when the nectar and pollen is used as a critical food resource for the honeybees, bumblebees and hoverflies that we are finding increasingly active at such times. Later on the berries, in those that fruit freely, are devoured by garden birds; those birds will also use the bushier species for nesting and roosting. One species, M. aquifolium, has been much planted inside and outside gardens and is now fully naturalized in England and southern Scotland.