Lakeshore Garden Centres Plant Finder

Description:

A native shrub with lovely lavender-pink flowers in summer, followed by interesting clusters of bright purple berries along the arching branches; best in full sun but tolerates light shade; yellow-green fall color; flowers and berries appear on new growth

Ornamental Features

American Beautyberry is primarily grown for its highly ornamental fruit. It features an abundance of magnificent purple berries from late summer to late fall. It has shell pink trumpet-shaped flowers with creamy white overtones along the branches from early to mid summer, which are interesting on close inspection. Its oval leaves are green in colour. The foliage often turns yellow and light green in fall.

Landscape Attributes

American Beautyberry is a multi-stemmed perennial with a shapely form and gracefully arching foliage. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This plant will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and is best cut back to the ground in late winter before active growth resumes. It is a good choice for attracting birds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

American Beautyberry is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

American Beautyberry will grow to be about 5 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 5 feet. Its foliage tends to remain dense right to the ground, not requiring facer plants in front. Although it is technically a woody plant, this plant can be expected to behave as a perennial in our climate if planted outdoors over the winter, usually regrowing from its base (crown) the following year. As such, gardeners should take into consideration that it will perform differently than it would in its native habitat.

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This species is not originally from North America.

American Beautyberry is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden. Be aware that in our climate, most plants cannot be expected to survive the winter if left in containers outdoors, and this plant is no exception. Contact our experts for more information on how to protect it over the winter months.

This plant is not reliably hardy in our region, and certain restrictions may apply; contact the store for more information.