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    • Laurustinus viburnum
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Beautyberries
Callicarpa

Amanda's Garden Consulting

Beautyberries, Callicarpa

Picture
Incredible purple bead-like berries of the beautyberry.
Callicarpa bodinieri,
Beautyberry plants have graceful arching stems.
Callicarpa bodinieri,
Flowers attract bees and butterflies.
Callicarpa bodinieri,
Berries contrast with the pale green foliage and provide food for birds during the winter.
Profusion beautyberry, Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii ‘Profusion’
Profusion Beautyberry bears many berries, hence it's name.
Callicarpa formosana,
For Zones 8 to 10, choose Callicarpa formosana, a more heat tolerant beautyberry.
Purple beautyberry,Callicarpa dichotoma)
Purple beautyberry (C. dichotoma)
Picture
Plants prefer full sun and become scraggly in shade.
Common Name:  beautyberry
Botanical Name: Callicarpa species
Form:   cascading stems
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Callicarpa
Species: numerous
Plant Type:  deciduous shrub
Mature Size: depends on variety
Growth: fast
Origin: Asia, Central America, North America
Hardiness Zone: depends on variety
Foliage: dull green, pinnate, serrated, simple leaves 1” to 3” long turn yellow in fall
Flowers: small violet, pink or white inconspicuous flowers held in clusters in the axils along stems in early summer
Fruit:  shiny violet bead-like drupes held in clusters that wrap around stems
Stems: opposite leaf arrangement
Exposure: sun to part shade, too much shade produces leggy plants
Soil: soil tolerant prefers well-drained, medium moisture.
Uses: garden borders, native gardens, informal, cottage, butterfly, bee and bird gardens, winter interest
Propagation:  softwood cuttings in spring or semi-ripe cuttings in summer
Pruning: blooms on new growth, prune back to 12 inches above the ground in late winter to early spring to promote compact growth
​Problems: scale, mildew leaf scorch but are uncommon, may die back in harsh winters, but will regrow
Cultivars: numerous, see below
Comments: 
Flowers attract bees and butterflies, the berries attract birds. Group a few together to increase cross pollination and more fruit.
 
The Callicarpa genus includes 140 species of shrubs and trees. All bear dense clusters of white, pink, red or purple flowers during the summer followed by clusters of purple, magenta coloured bead-like fruit that deepen in colour as they age. Berries persists well after the leaves have fallen for a dramatic and colourful fall and winter display.
 
Four species are used in ornamental gardens American Beautyberry C. americana, which is hardy in Zones 6 to 10. The Asian species (Callicarpa japonica, C. dichotoma, C. bodinieri are hardy in Zones 5 to 8. All species bear purple berries through fall and winter.  

  • American beautyberry (C. americana),  3’ – 6’ tall and wide Zones 6 to 10, bushy, loose and graceful arching habit.
  • Profusion beautyberry (C. bodinieri var. giraldii ‘Profusion’), a popular cultivar, Zones 5 to 8, 3’ – 4’ x 4’ – 5’, arching branches with violet purple fruits  
  • Purple beautyberry (C. dichotoma), Zones 5 to 8, 3’ – 4’ x 3’ – 5’, small, compact, rounded form with long arching branches. Small pink to lavender flowers followed by lilac violet fruit.  
  • Japanese beautyberry (C. japonica) Zones 5 to 8, 4’ – 6’ tall and wide
  • Beautyberry (C. formosana), 3 to 9 feet, China, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, stems covered in greyish hairs, purple berries. Bristly foliage may cause irritation. Zones 8 to 10. 
Picture
The berries of Callicarpa formosana.
Picture
The berries persist into winter on leafless stems.

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Copyright © 2017
  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn Basics
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Alternatives
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulch & Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • How to Garden Topics
    • Fall Garden Chores
    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
    • Spring Veggie Gardening
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Garden Inspections
    • Helping Pollinators
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Dahlias
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
    • Garden Phlox
    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
    • Handkerchief or Dove Tree
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Oriental Lilies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pink Dawn Bodnant Viburnum
    • Poinsettias
    • Oregon Grape Holly
    • Ornamental Kale
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Portuguese Laurel
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
    • Snowberry
    • Snowdrops
    • Star Magnolia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Winter Camellia, C. sasanqua
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
    • Wood Anemones
    • Yews
  • Garden Tour Blogs
  • Monthly Flower Arrangements
  • Website Index
  • Subscribe
  • Need Help?