Autumn Olive: Invasive Elaeagnus Umbellata

The beautiful red berries displayed on Autumn Olive are delicious to birds and other wildlife. Easy to grow, Autumn Olive will plant itself all over your neighborhood after just one season of berries.

Invasive plants such as Autumn Olive should never be planted in the Southeastern United States. Our temperate climate makes it easy for these plants to take over, crowding out native plants that are needed by wildlife.

If it is red berries in fall that you're looking for, there is more than 1 non-invasive alternative for you. I'll list just a few:

• Holly - there are many forms of holly, both native and non-native. Most hollies are evergreen, but there are some deciduous species available. Berries are usually red, but orange or bluish black berries can be found.
  
• Viburnum - Cranberry Bush exhibits bright red berries in fall and also bright red foliage!
• Callicarpa americana - Native American Beauty Berry certainly looks exotic with its vibrant purple berries in September, but surprisingly it is a native plant found growing in the Southeast. Yes, I know, purple is not red, but I had to throw that one into the list, since American Beauty Berry is always my favorite.

Invasive plants such as Autumn Olive should really be removed from the garden at first sight. I wish I'd known this years ago, since I'm still trying to eradicate the thugs surrounding Shady Gardens. For a closeup look at the berries, follow this link to see the Autumn Olive image.

For help in choosing plants for your Georgia garden, take a look at this great chart I found, Native Plants for Georgia.

American Beautyberry: Callicarpa Americana

One of my very favorite plants of all is the American Beautyberry. One of the showiest of all native plants, Callicarpa americana, displays vibrant purple berry clusters all along the stems at a time when few plants are blooming in the garden.

Insignificant tiny blossoms appear in early summer, berries develop later in summer, beginning to change from green to purple in late August.

The bright purple berries are held tightly in clusters along the stems and between the leaves. The berries really begin to show off as they remain on the stems long after all leaves have fallen from the plant. Although we don't get snow here, I've seen breathtakingly beautiful photos of American Beautyberry with snow and icycles. Wow!

Easy to grow and very drought-tolerant, Callicarpa Americana will grow quite large--up to 10 feet tall and wide, but it is easy to contain as a smaller specimen with just one pruning per year at the end of winter or early spring. Since the plant blooms and forms berries on new growth, you can conveniently prune when your climate begins warming up without sacrificing your berry production in fall.

American Beautyberry makes a lovely specimen shrub but is even more spectacular when massed in groups of 3 or more.

An added bonus is that songbirds like the berries, once they begin to shrivel. I suppose they sweeten a bit as they age.

Foliage is large, bright green leaves that are attractive even without blooms or berries. Deciduous leaves fall at onset of cold weather, leaving the bright purple very showy berries to remain well into winter, often as late as January, depending on climate.

One of the most showy American native plants that I know of, the American Beautyberry is worthy to be planted in every garden. Find one for your garden at Shady Gardens Nursery.