Native Plant Wildlife Gardening

What a great plant! I love American beautyberry. It has everything going for it – hardy, low maintenance, bees love the flowers (albeit short lived) and birds love the berries. The lavender color on the berry is stunning. After the leaves fall in autumn, those lovely lavender berries persist. This plant thrives even under abuse and is drought tolerant once established.

The particular plant in the photo was given to me and in sad, sad shape when I got it. The gentleman who gave it to me had purchased it at a local native plant sale but never put it in the ground but instead it lived neglected in a pot for 8 months. When I got it the poor thing had a few leaves and the roots were growing 3′ out the drain holes seeking water. I thought there was no way it would live but planted it anyway, having to cut the pot off and root prune the daylights out of it. I did that in late winter and this summer it came back, even producing berries. It wasn’t lush and full but still healthy looking. Photo was taken in October so it’s lost a lot of leaves for fall already.

Beautyberry does best with a bit of shade in the south, filtered or dappled sun is perfect. I have planted a hedge to line a woods path of light green Callicarpa americana (purple berried) alternating with Callicarpa dichotoma (white berried) and wine colored Diabolo Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius), a native cultivar. The plan is that this hedge will create a 4-6 ft. tall, dense foliage area for bird and wildlife coverage along with winter food from the beautyberry and some pretty for me.

This is the first season my hedge has been in and it’s about 2′ tall so we shall see how it works out. So far so good! My only issue is that the sun in this area is filtered. Although it gets a period of good sun, and Ninebark does well in shady situations, Diabolo Ninebark prefers a lot of light to get that deep wine color. Beautyberry prefers not to be in direct sun. I’m counting on the Georgia sun strength to color the ninebark.

Seasonal Interest: Callicarpa has a paler green leaf and is a handy color contrast in the woods, but the ninebark is wine colored so will really make the hedge stand out creating good summer interest. In winter, Callicarpa berries carry interest and Ninebark has exfoliating bark which adds winter appeal.

Wildlife: Coverage, particularly for ground foraging birds such as thrashers, towhees and thrushes. Berries produce bird food. Which birds will eat them depends on your area.

I purchased both the white and purple Callicarpa from Mail Order Natives and the ninebark from Moonshine Designs Nursery.

On a note: before you plant Callicarpa check your zone. It is reported to be a pain in the bottom for some in zones 8- as far as re-seeding.