• Home
  • Contact
  • Site Map
George Weigel - Central PA Gardening
  • Landscape 1
  • Landscape 2
  • Landscape 3
  • Landscape 4
  • Garden Drawings
  • Talks & Trips
  • Patriot-News/Pennlive Posts
  • Buy Helpful Info

Navigation

  • Storage Shed (Useful Past Columns)
  • About George
  • Sign Up for George's Free E-Column
  • Plant Profiles
    • Annuals
    • Edibles
    • Roses
    • Bulbs/Corms/Tubers
    • Evergreens/Conifers
    • Flowering shrubs
      • Abelia 'Kaleidoscope'
      • Lilac 'Prairie Petite'
      • American beautyberry
      • Viburnum Blue Muffin
      • Deutzia 'Nikko'
      • Hydrangea Incrediball
      • Summersweet 'Sixteen Candles'
      • Caryopteris 'Snow Fairy'
      • Chokeberry 'Morton' (Iroquois Beauty)
      • Red-twig dogwood 'Midwinter Fire'
      • Hydrangea Little Lime
      • Crape myrtle Red Rocket
      • Dwarf oakleaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers'
      • Winterberry holly Red Sprite
      • Korean spice viburnum
      • Abelia Pinky Bells
      • St. Johnswort Blue Velvet
      • Summersweet 'Compacta'
      • Weigela Sonic Bloom
      • Dwarf cotoneaster 'Little Gem'
      • Witch hazel 'Arnold Promise'
      • Sweetshrub 'Hartlage Wine'
      • Staghorn sumac
      • Hydrangea Quick Fire
      • Hydrangea Little Quick Fire and Bobo
      • Crape myrtle Cherry Dazzle
      • Deutzia Chardonnay Pearls
      • Hydrangea Invincibelle Spirit II
      • Sumac 'Gro-Low'
      • Witch hazel 'Jelena'
      • Forsythia Magical Gold
      • Dwarf lilac 'Red Pixie'
      • Hydrangea Tuff Stuff
      • Bush honeysuckle Kodiak Black
      • Spicebush
      • Crape myrtle Dynamite
      • Elderberry Lemony Lace
      • Hydrangea 'Haas' Halo'
      • Chokeberry Ground Hug
      • Pearlbush Snow Day Surprise
      • Dwarf oakleaf hydrangea ‘Munchkin’
      • Sweet azalea
      • Buttonbush
      • Abelia 'Little Richard'
      • Dwarf viburnum Lil' Ditty
      • Viburnum Chicago Lustre
      • Butterfly bush Lo and Behold 'Blue Chip'
      • Caryopteris
      • Caryopteris Petit Bleu
      • Crape myrtle Pink Velour
      • Crape myrtle 'Tonto'
      • Elderberry Black Lace
      • Fothergilla 'Blue Shadow'
      • Fothergilla 'Mt. Airy'
      • Hydrangea Forever and Ever series
      • Hydrangea Let's Dance Starlight
      • Hydrangea Pinky Winky
      • Hydrangea 'Limelight'
      • Lilac Tinkerbelle
      • Magnolia Little Girls
      • Ninebark Diabolo
      • Ninebark Summer Wine
      • Oakleaf hydrangea Snow Queen
      • Purple beautyberry
      • Red-twig dogwood
      • Spirea 'Little Princess'
      • Spirea 'Neon Flash'
      • Spirea 'Ogon' (Mellow Yellow)
      • St. Johnswort 'Albury Purple'
      • St. Johnswort Mystical series
      • Sumac Tiger Eyes
      • Variegated weigela
      • Viburnum Brandywine
      • Viburnum 'Winterthur'
      • Virginia sweetspire Little Henry
      • Weigela My Monet
      • Winterberry holly 'Winter Red'
    • Ornamental Grasses
    • Perennials
    • Trees
    • Vines
  • Timely Tips
  • George’s Handy Lists
  • George's Friends
  • Photo Galleries
  • Links and Resources
  • Support George’s Efforts


George’s new “50 American Public Gardens You Really Ought to See” e-book steers you to the top gardens to add to your bucket list.

Read More | Order Now





George’s “Pennsylvania Month-by-Month Gardening” helps you know when to do what in the landscape.

Read More | Order Now







George’s “Survivor Plant List” is a 19-page booklet detailing hundreds of the toughest and highest-performing plants.

Click Here






Has the info here been useful? Support George’s efforts by clicking below.




Looking for other ways to support George?

Click Here

Purple beautyberry

Fall fruits of purple beautyberry.

* Common name: Purple beautyberry

* Botanical name: Callicarpa dichotoma

* What it is: A flowering shrub with an arching habit and BB-sized clusters of bright lavender fruits all along the stems from mid-September into winter. Gets tiny pink flowers in July to early August, but they’re not terribly showy. Leaves drop in late fall, when fruits really become noticeable.

* Size: 4 feet tall and 5 feet wide if you cut them back nearly to the ground at the end of each winter.

* Where to use: A tough plant and very showy, but only in one season – namely fall, when the unusually colored fruit is prime-time. The habit is a little rangy, so not a great choice for the front foundation. But purple beautyberries are good choices along borders, around a back patio or in any semi-wooded setting. Competes fairly well with tree roots. Sun or part shade.

* Care: Control the ranginess by cutting the plant down to a few inches at the end of each winter. Once established, needs little, if any, watering or fertilizing. Seldom bothered by any bugs, diseases or animal pests.

* Great partner: Mass spring bulbs such as Siberian squill, grape hyacinths and/or daffodils around beautyberries to add life while the new wood is just getting started. In part shade, fringe-leafed bleeding hearts make good perennial partners.


  • Home
  • Garden House-Calls
  • George's Talks & Trips
  • Disclosure

© 2025 George Weigel | Site designed and programmed by Pittsburgh Web Developer Andy Weigel using WordPress