Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

rate this answer

Tuesday - July 13, 2010
From: Birmingham, AL
Region: Southeast
Topic: Planting, Transplants, Watering
Title: Transplant shock in American beautyberry in Birmingham AL
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
We created a new garden area in our yard that gets full sun in the afternoon. I had a Beautyberry Bush that had seriously outgrown the area where we originally planted it (also full sun), so I transplanted it in the new garden to give it more room - not thinking that the temperatures may be too hot to move it now. After 3-4 days it is still wilted. I water it regularly and really don't want to lose it. What do you recommend?ANSWER:
You have just joined the Leap Before You Look Club, which has a very large membership.
Callicarpa americana (American beautyberry) needs part shade, which we consider to be 2 to 6 hours of sun a day. This USDA Plant Profile shows it growing in scattered locations in Alabama, which may be a function of the soil or soil moisture. The page on this plant in our Native Plant Database has this comment:
"Native Habitat: Found in woods, moist thickets, wet slopes, low rich bottomlands, and at the edges of swamps in the Piney Woods, Post Oak Woods, Blackland woodlands, and coastal woodlands. Moist woods; coastal plains; swamp edges, bottomlands"
From the same webpage, here are growing conditions for the American beautyberry:
"American beautyberry is a wonderful, large understory shrub with a naturally loose and graceful arching form. In the fall and early winter, the branches are laden with magenta purple (sometimes white)berry clusters that look spectacular as the leaves drop in autumn. It is useful as a screen in swampy or wooded locations or under shade trees in a garden setting. It can be cut to 12" above the base each winter to encourage more compact growth, flowers and fruit. It can also be left to mature naturally into a tall woody shrub . The shrub may temporarily defoliate and lose developing fruit during periods of prolonged summer drought."
Note that the treatment for an overgrown bush is trimming during the winter to encourage more compact growth. What is NOT recommended, never, ever, is transplanting a woody plant, a large woody plant, anywhere in the middle of the summer. There is not much we can recommend, short of a Time Machine that will take you back before you did that, so you could not do it. The plant is in severe transplant shock, and being in full sun instead of the part shade it needs makes it that much worse. The best thing we can suggest (besides the Time Machine) is to water it gently, making sure the drainage is good so water is not standing on the roots, and don't fertilize. You should never fertilize a stressed plant, which this one obviously is, because the fertilizer will be trying to encourage the roots to grow, when the roots are just trying to stay alive.
If it manages to live until cool weather, you can scrape off a thin layer of bark with your thumbnail to see if there a thin layer of green beneath it, which means it is still alive. Then, trim it down in the Winter, as described above, and move it, if you can, to a shadier location.
From our Native Plant Image Gallery:
More Planting Questions
native plants for landscaping in Honolulu
January 08, 2012 - Hi, wildflower.org has been a great help for me in learning about different plants, their Latin names and characteristics. I was looking for a list of plants (trees, shrubs, ground covers, perennials...
view the full question and answer
Need an evergreen flowering vine to cover a fence in Houston, TX.
May 28, 2012 - Looking for an evergreen flowering vine to cover my fence. caveat? one part of the fence is within 5 feet from the air conditioning unit which blows a lot of hot air, the area takes a day or two to dr...
view the full question and answer
Survival of native yaupon in The Woodlands, TX after hurricane
September 25, 2008 - One of my large native yaupons trees (8ft) fell away from a group during the hurricane. I have uprighted and tied it off for stability. Now the leaves are all brown and falling. Is the tree dead or...
view the full question and answer
Sides for raised gardens
May 01, 2008 - I am wanting to put in raised gardens. What is the best product for the sides? Wood? If so, what kind?
Thank you
view the full question and answer
Damage to native elm in Texas
August 20, 2008 - We had a major landscape renovation done over the winter. One of the trees, an elm about 10 yrs old, remained in the bed although plants around it were removed. The tree has suddenly started turning...
view the full question and answer
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |