Purple Drupes

I have three of these beautiful deciduous shrubs, called Issai Japanese Beautyberry, along the base of my deck.  The drupes appearing along the stems right now are well, beautiful berries!  This shrub can take sun to partial shade and has arching branches of medium green foliage in the summer.  The foliage starts to turn an almost  chartreuse yellow like color in the fall which combines well with the metallic purple fruit  – what a show.

Borrowing features

Earlier in the season, I placed a huge container of Tradescantia (Purple Heart), an annual in our CT zones, which served as a color complement prior to the purple berries’ arrival on the shrubs later in the season.  Always think of how you can stage container gardens holding plants of similar colors or hues of a plant nearby. While there was no purple on the shrubs during the summer, the purple intense color of the Tradescantia foliage in a pot played a role until the cool temps arrived, and then the shrubs’ berries appeared after its flowering phase.  The yellow-green of the shrubs leaves worked as a color complement to the violet-red of the annual Tradescantia.  It makes sense because purple was to appear on the shrub later – nature gives you the clues or keys to working with color.  Look at the color wheel to see how you can achieve similar success with color combos.  Colors directly opposite are dramatic!

Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Issai’ has been easy to grow for me.  Once I was told it isn’t hardy in CT but I found this to not be the case (perhaps in more northern exposures).  Mine have been growing well for about 3-4 years now.  I pruned these shrubs in early spring.  As instructed, I pruned away about 1/3rd of the older canes, and I must say, at first I panicked for the shrubs looked wierd, but this summer it flushed out nicely with fresh new canes, as promised by my pruning instructor.  An extra bonus is the abundance of the purple drupes along the fresh stems right now.  It is a real eye-catcher. 

Perhaps next year, I will use the annuals, like Osteospermum, shown in this next photo as they have the right color hues and would work well with these shrubs.  This is just another example of how you can work it!  Place a nice pot of these colors by the shrubs.  The beautyberry shrubs behind the containers can reach 6′ high by 5′ wide as a nice backdrop.  These shrubs can pruned hard in early spring to desired height if you desire to do so.  It is a great plant for border planting, and very effective when planting in groups.  It can make a nice foliage mass and adds a nice feature in the fall as shown and explained here.

My sister in law asked if she could take a cutting now.  I read from Dirr’s book of Woody Landscape Plants to propagate this shrub, you must take softwood cuttings.  They root easily in sand under mist.  In fact, all Callicarpa root readily from softwood cuttings.  Roots will appear in about 7 to 14 days per Dirr.  If attempting seed propagation, they require cold, most stratification (that is subjecting the seeds to a temperature change by chilling the seeds either before or after sowing, otherwise they won’t germinate).  Just remember, the shrubs are deciduous, loosing their leaves in the winter, thus you wouldn’t want to plant them where you desire evergreen all year round.  But where you have the right spot, don’t hesitate to seek this plant from your nursery source.  I am glad I did!

Yesterday when running errands, I kept noticing the different leaf colors of trees, which one may figure is normal during this time of year in New England.  However, I was making mental notes of which were the most vibrant of colors and thinking about how each works in landscapes. 

I’m really glad I purchased a River Birch (Betula nigra) this year for my yard.  Not only has it performed well, it is now starting to show yellow leaves.  I am always scouting local sources and saw about 6 potted River Birches at a place called Lots n More in S. Windsor on Sullivan Avenue.  They were in small enough pots for me to manage transporting and planting myself.  And the top growth looked well shaped.  So off I went with one in the back of my SUV.  When I went to plant it, it turned out to be the most root bounded plant I’ve ever seen, so out came my handy razor knife to cut areas of the tangled roots.  I pull apart tight strands of roots so they would not girdle any longer once planted.  I felt as though I was freeing a tree held captive in a pot long enough! 

River birches are great trees for the Northeast.  They have proven performance in our climate.  It’s conical to spreading shape on top works well with the light orange bark of the tree.  The bark looks like the color of an orange creamsicle popsicle to me.  It peels away in layers when young.  It’s diamond shaped glossy foliage turns yellow in fall as mine is doing now. 

River birches can reach an average size of 60’H x 40’W and enjoy moist but well-drained soils.  I have the perfect spot for it where it is exactly those conditions and this tree has thrived so far in its new home.  But the yellow fall color, to me anyways, is somewhat soft and not like the vibrant yellow you see on a Ginko (G. biloba) tree this time of year.

Ginko trees display a very brilliant yellow fall color that is intense and full compared to birches.  But what most tree lovers and gardeners first notice about Ginkos is the shape of the leaves versus their fall color.  The leaves have a unique fan-shaped form.  They are so different, one may question why.  Perhaps it is because this tree was in existence since the Triassic and Jurassic eras, a time when dinosaurs moved around on our earth.  Keep a good eye out as you may see one near roadsides because they are tolerant of pollution, can take almost any, well-drained soil, and are free of insects and diseases.  Only caution is to avoid female trees because their fruit expells a yucky scent!  Look for male trees only if you decide to hunt one down for your landscape, which I plan on doing.  I want this tree in my yard next year. 

Yellow Fall Color

Also while driving, I noticed the very bright orange to deep reds of maples, but I happen to like the orange happening on my Metasequoia glyptostroboides (Dawn Redwood).  I tell my friends that I bought it just so I could say met-a-se-kwoy-a glip-to-stro-boy-dez to them when explaining I bought this deciduous conifer in the year my parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary.  When attending courses at UCONN, we had to identify this tree when it had no needles on it, as it sheds it needles each winter unlike other conifers.  It has been called a water fir because it looks like a fir tree and it was found growing at the edges of rice paddies in China at one time.  When there are no needles on the tree, you can id it by noticing the arrangement of the buds are in pairs.  I like the feathery look of the needles and the bark is beautiful as well.  The needle color on it is turning orange-brown which I find showy, and I love the bark on this tree – Check out my photo of it on my website:  www.cathytesta.com under Garden Club Presentations! 

Needles paired along stems

This tree gets very large so if you decided to get one, remember to give it the appropriate space.  It can reach 50′ in 15 to 20 years and is a fast grower – and another bonus is it is easy to transplant and likes the moist, deep, well-drained soils which I have in areas of my landscape.  I bought mine from The Garden Barn Nursery in Vernon, CT.  See www.gardenbarn.com.  I’m sure they are having great fall sales right now on their trees!

Bark Shows

Lastly, I want to mention another great tree known for terrific bark features, the Paperbark Maple (Acer griseum).  I regret not getting one I saw at Tarnow’s in Enfield last fall on sale.  It has cinnamon-colored exfoliating bark and red leaves in fall.  It is a nice smaller tree reaching about 18-20′ height.  And another I read about and saw this spring at another nursery is Acer japonicum ‘Aconitifolium’ (Fernleaf fullmoon maple). It is a small 8-10′ tall tree with a fall color of red, orange, and yellow leaves.  I love the cut of the leaves similar to Japanese Maples but with fatter fingers, and the edges are serrated looking.  Both of these beautifies are featured in Tracy Disabato-Aust’s new book titled, “50 High Impact Low-Case Garden Plants”.  I saw one of similar leaf structure this summer at Stonehedge Garden Center in Newington, CT called Autumn Moon Maple.  See photos below!