My friend Dahlia and I had lunch at a Thai restaurant today and then we took a walk at Green Spring Gardens. The beautyberries were just lovely. At Dahlia's school they have these planted in a colonial garden. I think I remember reading something about them in the "Founding Gardeners" book I read this summer. They are native wildflowers; I think Jefferson had planted them at Monticello. Birds like the berries and the leaves are favorites of the white tail deer. (Very timely for me ... my second graders just finished the white tail deer life cycle.) Squirrels will break off an entire branch and take it back to their nests to eat. The leaves are medium green but they turn a lighter yellow-green as they age. They have tiny pink-lavender flowers in the spring but it's the magenta berries that are the most beautiful.
