There are masses of plants with red, yellow or orange berries and i love them all but isn’t it fun to have something completely different? The plant in question Callicarpa ( which translates as Beauty berry which doubles as its common name) is one such. It is a deciduous shrub to 2metres or so with tiny fluffy deep mauve flowers in summer and lovely autumn foliage which would be enough to grow it for. However in late autumn it produces clusters of tiny purple berries that can last the winter through as well as lasting for months cut and put in a vase.
It is fairly easy to grow liking a well drained but not dry aspect in morning sun and apart from occasionally removing really old limbs completely very little needs to be done to it. I have plants in 8″ pots for $28.50 coming into bloom as I write this in mid January.
None of your friends who don’t already know the shrub will be able to walk past without comment.
