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Common Name: Japanese beautyberry
Type: Deciduous shrub
Family: Lamiaceae
Zone: 5 to 8
Native Range: Japan
Height: 4 to 6 feet
Spread: 4 to 6 feet
Bloom Time: June to July
Bloom Color: White
Bloom Description: White
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Flowers: Showy Flowers
Fruit: Showy Fruit
Wildlife: Attracts Birds
Uses: Hedge
Culture
Easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Best flowering and fruiting is in full sun. Stems can become leggy in too much shade. Some tolerance for drought. Flowers bloom on new wood. Prune as needed in early spring. Most gardeners prefer to prune stems back to 6” in late winter to early spring each year. Such hard pruning tends to promote shrub compactness and good flowering. In harsh USDA Zone 5 winters, stems may die back to the ground in winter with new growth emerging from the roots in spring. Best cross-pollination and resultant fruit production occur when shrubs are planted in groups or massed.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Japanese beautyberry is a rounded, deciduous shrub that typically grows to 4-6’ tall and as wide with slender, upright-arching branches. As the common name suggests, the best ornamental feature of this shrub is its showy fall display of fruit (beautyberries). Clusters (cymes to 1.5” wide) of small, pink to white flowers bloom in June. Flowers are not particularly showy. Flowers are followed by large clusters of bright, glossy, violet to purple fruits (each 1/6” diameter) which ripen in late summer and put on their best show through October. Fruits may persist beyond the point of leaf drop but not very far into winter. Fruits are attractive to birds. Elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, finely toothed, medium green leaves (to 3-5” long) with acuminate tips are borne along the stems.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Some susceptibility to leaf spot, stem diseases and black mold. May suffer significant stem dieback or die to the ground in harsh winters.
Garden Uses
Group or mass. Borders, bird gardens. Underplanting for open woodland areas. For an interesting fall berry display, plant in combination with other fall berry-producing shrubs such as Ilex verticillata (red berries) and Pyracantha (orange berries).