all beautyberry

I've been all about the beautyberry yesterday and today. So here's a ton of pictures! Vivid color is beading the graceful drooping stems; of course I went out to take pictures.

I really like how it's growing over the fence on this side.

On the other side- facing the large sideyard, the drooping stems were dragging on the ground. I propped some up from underneath with sticks.

It was kind of smothering and crushing spiderwort here on the other side-

And then I was shoving leaf mulch underneath, and found all these straight stems growing up just under the skirt edge of the branches- the main clump of stems is way further back by the fence. These forward stems were there last year but I wasn't sure if more beautyberry or some other volunteer. Now I compared the foliage closely- it must be more beautyberries grown from dropped berries.

I was thrilled to dig up/pull out seven substantial young plants-

plus four tiny ones which I stuck in pots.

I promptly planted two on the other side of the holly, and two more further up the slope, flanking the euonymus (where I yanked out a ton of yellow salvia- that plant is going rampant everywhere I put it years ago!) - not pictured- and then another two here on the lower end of the bed alongside the back lawn. It's behind the second rue, between pannicle hydrangea (bare stems where the deer have been eating it!) and false indigo- and the pale artemesia behind. The beautyberry will fill all this space, so I'm going to have to move most of these smaller plants- but I don't mind at all.

The last one I put between a bunch of stuff- there's the other hydrangea on the left, patch of turtlehead on the right, 'autumn joy' sedums in front. And a hosta kind of buried in there too. My plan is to dig up and move the sedums and half the turtlehead patch in spring, to give this beautyberry room to grow. But for now I've just left it tucked in there.

Here's that space from a wider view. Most of that turtlehead clump I'll be shifting over to the right.