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Letter to the editor

Fall for a native beautyberry

Don't bemoan Florida's less extravagant autumn; small, vibrant signs like the blazing beautyberry bush mark our seasonal shift.

By John A. Starnes Jr., Special to the Times
Published September 8, 2007

Feast your senses on early signs: the first citrus blooms, ripening roadside cattails and that delicious Indian summer shift of sunlight piercing the cooler, drier air.

Okay, that cooler, drier air is still to come. But the beautyberry bush, with its brazen bundles of berries, boldly heralds autumn as well as any northern maple.

Native to Florida, the beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) can bring ecological balance to our landscapes of immigrant plants. Like many members of the verbena family, it is tough, tolerating a wide range of soils and full sun to moderate shade.

Averaging 3 to 6 feet tall and wide, it is perfect for an informal, bird-friendly hedge, easily maintained with an early winter hard-pruning. Beach dwellers take note: Low salt-tolerance is its only shortcoming.

Few semi-shrubs are better suited to gardeners who want to replace water-thirsty turf with informal landscapes of plants native to our unique and fragile ecology. Surrounded by lower-growing perennial flowers that bloom throughout the year, the beautyberry can provide a lovely framework of seasonal change that so many northern transplants to Florida miss. We natives harbor fond memories of hiking past vast stands of it in long-gone expanses of wild meadowlands.

Those who create dried arrangements will enjoy the autumn harvest of branches 2 to 3 feet long, hung upside down in a cool room by clothespins on a wire hanger. In a few weeks, preserve them with a clear acrylic spray for years of further beauty indoors. The variety "lacta" even covers itself in pure white berries.

Look for beautyberry plants at native plant nurseries, or gather seeds and take cuttings from wild plants on rural roadsides.

No fall in Florida? Let the beautyberry welcome that subtle season with flair.

John A. Starnes Jr., born in Key West, is an avid organic gardener and rosarian who studies, collects, cultivates and hybridizes roses for Florida. He can be reached at johnastarnes@msn.com.

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Beautyberry source
One source of beautyberry is Twigs & Leaves, 1013 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. S, St. Petersburg. Call (727) 492-9906.

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Beautyberry bush

Name: Beautyberry bush, American beautyberry, French mulberry

Scientific name: Callicarpa americana. Callicarpa is derived from the Greek words kallos (beauty) and karpos (fruit).

Family: Verbenaceae, along with lemon verbena and teak.

Where it grows: Maryland, south to Florida, and southwesterly into Texas. It also grows in Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Cuba.

What it likes: Full sun to moderate shade; most soils. Poor salt-tolerance. Very drought-tolerant; disease- and pest-free.

What likes it: Birds, butterflies and other animals, which rely on the berries as an important survival food (though they will not eat them until other sources are depleted). The berries are highly astringent and considered unfit for human use.

What dislikes it: Mosquitoes and ticks. Beautyberry has been found to be repellent to the mosquitoes that carry yellow fever and malaria, as well as the tick that carries Lyme disease.

The attractions: Tiny lilac flowers in spring; magenta to purple berries in fall.

Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture, www.floridata.com

[Last modified September 6, 2007, 17:11:18]