On plants

This is a picture of American Beautyberry, although the picture does not do it justice. The berries are gorgeous, and have the kind of illusively perfect coloring that looks great in every light. My most favorite is in the afternoon and evening when the sun is starting to go down. In the shadows, the berries hang like clusters of jewels down the stalk of the plant.

I only learned about beautyberry plants last year. There is a thicket of beautyberry bushes around the deck where I park on campus. I discovered them one evening last year as I walked back to my car. I'm pretty sure I stopped in my tracks to stare at them. I was mystified at the name of the plant for several weeks until an article in the newspaper described them. And then I was all gung-ho to buy ten plants and plant them all around the house until I read further in the article. The berries are considered "unfit for human use" to quote Wikipedia, but are good food for animals in the winter. Animals like squirrels and birds and mice. And since I don't do so well with small animals in the house, I changed my mind about planting beautyberry around the house. Which in the end turned out to be a good thing, since we moved. We wouldn't have been able to take the plants with us, and I would have missed the wonderful colors.