Beautyberry

Tidal Bonsai

Omono
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I didn't know that, I just recently saw an international bonsai article on the species and thought it looked cool.

The Japanese beautyberry specifically, since it doesn't grow as vigorously and stays more compact.
 
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Bonsai Nut

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There is American beautyberry and Japanese beautyberry. My understanding is that they have different growth habits, but I have very little experience with the plant. I just picked up my first Japanese beautyberry at the GSBF show a couple of months ago.

A Japanese beautyberry shohin there sold for $550. It was there the first day and when I came back two days later... gone. It was a mixed relief for one of my friends - who wanted to buy it but the price was a little steep for his bonsai budget that day :) My beautyberry is not really even pre-bonsai. At this point it is just a plant in a nursery pot.
 

Bonsai Nut

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Wow! That is way over my budget too!

It was a pretty amazing plant :) This is not the one at the GSBF show (I didn't take any photos of it) but a different beautyberry - but you can tell how striking it can be.

With cold weather arriving I am on a winter fruiting tree bender :)

2e65959c22b9994ca9352822ceea46bb.jpg
 
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It was a pretty amazing plant :) This is not the one at the GSBF show (I didn't take any photos of it) but a different beautyberry - but you can tell how striking it can be.

With cold weather arriving I am on a winter fruiting tree bender :)

View attachment 170145
Photo by W. N. Valavanis.
 

Bonsai Nut

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There are apparently quite a number of species and cultivars - and much confusion regarding horticultural and common names. I see people referring to all different cultivars as "Asian" or "Japanese" beautyberry - even if they aren't.

After the GSBF show I went searching for information, and this is one of those plants where there is a lot of confusion among nurseries. Even now if you search for Japanese beautyberry you will find lots of links to articles for other species - that people refer to as Japanese beautyberry.
 

Brian Van Fleet

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We had one in our yard at our first house. The berries are an intense color. In retrospect, I wish I would have dug it up. It had been chopped back several times and was growing in some very shallow soil, right at the base of a rock outcropping. In berry, they really draw attention to themselves, because there isn’t much like it.
 

ianb

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There is American beautyberry and Japanese beautyberry. My understanding is that they have different growth habits, but I have very little experience with the plant. I just picked up my first Japanese beautyberry at the GSBF show a couple of months ago.

A Japanese beautyberry shohin there sold for $550. It was there the first day and when I came back two days later... gone. It was a mixed relief for one of my friends - who wanted to buy it but the price was a little steep for his bonsai budget that day :) My beautyberry is not really even pre-bonsai. At this point it is just a plant in a nursery pot.

Yeah, saved me some money there:). It was nice but not $550 nice, with it being more of a shrub it's difficult to find one with a reasonably sized single trunk.
 

Bonsai Nut

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Yeah, saved me some money there:). It was nice but not $550 nice, with it being more of a shrub it's difficult to find one with a reasonably sized single trunk.

I was trying not to mention you by name :)

Well... right now my plant looks more like a stinging nettle than anything $550 worthy. Though I think it was grown in a greenhouse or something because it has not dropped any leaves and the berries are only now starting to turn purple...
 
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Bonsai Nut

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The issue (as far as I can tell) is that Japanese and American beautyberry have different growth habits. I have only a single plant so I can't tell how different they may or may not be. Additionally, there are some very attractive cultivars out there that are based off of Purple beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma) - which is an Asian native but not the Japanese species.

Ian tossed me down the rabbit hole when he introduced me to this plant :)

nonnative-beautyberry.jpg
 
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bonsaibp

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I have some small 6" pot I believe Japanese Beautyberry raw stock. I only have 5-6 for sale and they'd be $35 plus shipping. The Japanese beautyberry has much smaller foliage and fruit than the American version which grows wild in many southern states. I'll post a picture tomorrow but now they're dormant so they don't look like much.
 
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