More than mums to autumn

By August, you can palpably feel gardens starting to go to sleep. The spectacular awakenings of spring are over and the glorious summer flowers are starting to look tired. We start anticipating the glowing yellows and oranges and reds of fall. But, while we see, we rarely notice the fall-blooming plants, of which there are many.

I was walking south on Fieldston Road from West 263rd Street and reached the Henry Hudson overpass at West 254th Street. On the south side of the street there is Endor Park, which was begun in 2000 with planting done by students from several neighborhood schools. The north side of the street, overlooking the highway, is one long flower bed with a variety of summer annuals and some perennials. I stopped, struck by a loose shrub whose stems were laden with small, perfect, purple berries. As I stood there, marveling at its exquisite beauty, I remembered that it was a Callicarpa, colloquially known as a “Beautyberry.” There are several varieties, but they can be hard to distinguish from one another. This shrub was probably a C. americana or a C. japonica. 

In addition to visual delight, the berries are eaten by birds. For further information, search for the page devoted to the Beautyberry on the website of Clemson University’s Cooperative Extension.

Sura Jeselsohn lives in Riverdale. Point of view is a column open to all.