Purple Beautyberry

Purple Beautyberry
Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii
(kal-ee-KAR-puh)


This picture is from Friday. I thought people might like to see the more widely grown Purple Beautyberry. I found it listed under several different names so I just used the one I have always known it as Callicarpa bodinieri. It is a hardy, fun plant to grow and the color of the berries is something that you just don’t see. I actually prune mine down a little in the late winter/early spring to keep them neat and not to tall. They never seem to have any problems or want extra water so the care is easy. I haven’t tried to root cuttings but I have had some seedlings popping up here and there but not so many as to be unmanageable.

Not my finest hour with a camera but I wanted to show the full view of the beautiful berries.

This picture was taken a month ago and is Purple Smoke Tree (Cotinus coggygria) against a nice blue sky and some yellow Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) leaves. Smoke Tree is another fun plant to have and it adds a lot of color to the garden. One of my gardening heroes, Christopher Lloyd advocated planting the Smoke Tree in borders and cutting down to the ground each year. I have done that and it works well I also like it as an open shrubby tree in the right spot. There are several cultivars and I like the ones with the darkest foliage the best. It gets its name from the panicles of wispy bloomed flowers in the summer. They kind of resemble smoke.

I could go on about both of these plants, as they are both worth growing, but don’t really feel like writing. I am just trying to keep up my daily routine for now.

White Beautyberry

White Beautyberry
Callicarpa dichotoma 'Albifructus'
(kal-ee-KAR-puh) (dy-KAW-toh-muh)
Synonyms: var. albifructus

I think I got the name of this plant right. I wasn’t sure if it was this one or Callicarpa japonica 'Leucocarpa'. C. dichotoma is hardy to USDA Zone 7 and the japonica is hardy to Zone 5. I haven’t seen either growing in Connecticut before but think I will try to get the hardier one as I garden on the colder edge of Zone 7. Some Zone 7 plants will work but eventually we get a really cold winter and that is that for them. Purple Beautyberry is one of my favorite fall shrubs as you just don’t see that particular shade of purple in the garden much.


These picture was taken at Skylands, the New Jersey State Botanical Garden a couple of weeks ago. They had about 4 or 5 of these plants and it made for a beautiful cluster of shrubs. If I had known that there were two types of White Beautyberry I would have investigated a little further trying to get an identification. If anyone knows any differences between the two plants please chime in.