Hambone's Mercantile

American Beautyberry is one of my favorites for fall color. Their vibrant fuchsia berries are great conversation starters too. Invariably, the first exclamation I get is not to touch them! They’re “poisonous”! This is simply false. One of my favorite jellies is American Beautyberry Jelly (I sent my recipe off for food safety testing to Kansas State a couple of years ago. It passed testing, and is now one of my jellies available for purchase). Their berries aren’t the only part of the equation. The large, ovate leaves tend to take on a lime green to almost yellow color, the perfect complement to the purple hued berries.

I learned how easy these were to propagate out of simple laziness and forgetfulness. I really wanted these growing on my property, but couldn’t find them anywhere, so I ordered cuttings. I soaked them in a bucket of water when they arrived, and forgot about them. All winter. They froze. Multiple times. By spring, I was certain they were done-for. However, ever the optimist, I went ahead and had a look at them. Not only had those cuttings put out little roots, they were beginning to leaf out. After an entire winter of total neglect. I planted them, and they flowered and produced fruit that same season.

When we moved last year, I was delighted to see that we had a forest of beautyberry growing on our place. I now offer cuttings from our wild population through our Etsy store, and at pop up markets. They are so simple. Each submerged lenticel (the little “scars” along the stem) will happily put out little rootlets after a few days in clean water.

A little bit of rooting hormone does help them along, but I have found it’s not necessary. I have also been told that you can start Beautyberry cuttings by simply sticking them in good soil, and keeping them moist. I have never started them this way before, but I started a few a couple of weeks ago. I simply put potting mix into nursery pots, and stuck the sticks in, trying to keep them oriented to how they were growing when I collected them.

We shall see how they do. If they do well, I may start offering started cuttings through my Etsy shop for those that like me when I started, feel intimidated by simple fresh cuttings. These guys should do really well. Beautyberry is so adaptable. Give it a try. It’s a really tough, really beautiful native!

You can get cuttings of your very own here. The listing is for five cuttings, but I put a couple extras in there. I also give you the option for rooting hormone treatment before I ship them. Happy gardening!