The Dog Days of Summer are upon us. August dawned with steamy tropical heat punctuated by thunderstorms followed by a deluge of rain that emboldened and enthralled weeds overtaking the garden. I try to keep all the seed heads picked off the most noxious weeds in hopes of containing their numbers. It seems things make seed earlier here taking advantage of the rainy season to establish a new generation.
My Beautyberry (Calliocarpa americana) is packed with fruit and was blocking access to our irrigation controller so I trimmed a branch for this vase. Floridians make jam with this – I may have enough berries this year, although the universal reaction to the jam (from non-Floridians) has been ‘it doesn’t taste like much’. Probably best left for the birds. And I won’t have to engage my botulism phobia. This is one stem of a 6-foot shrub.
The vase is an old pasta container that long ago lost its lid. While cutting flowers, it occurred to me I was getting a real taste of late summer in Florida without any of the imported tropicals. I left Frangipani, Heliconias, Orchids, and Bromeliads flowering in the garden.
The contents of August in a jar: purple and green berries; American Beautyberry (Calliocarpa americana); white flowers, Sweet Almond (Aloysia virgata); orange and yellow spikes, Bulbine frutescens; red spikes, Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea); red star shaped flowers, Heirloom Pentas (Penta lanceolata); tubular red/orange flowers, native Firebush (Hamelia patens var patens); Daisies at the base; in yellow, Beach Daisies (Helianthus debilis); in apricot, some mysterious Zinnias and some native Gallardia (Gallardia pulchella). The Gallardia was thoughtlessly cropped out by me – it can be seen in the picture at the top of the post.
Maybe next week I will have a Tropical Jar of August!
The Shrub Queen 
I love this wild mix of summer in a vase! So pretty a mix of color and form, the ones that have caught my eye are apricot Bulbine, the bright Pentas and Firebush, which looks like licorice candy to me. 😉
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Thanks, Eliza..had to think about the licorice,,Red Twizzlers?
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There is an Australian licorice that comes in ‘pellets’ – they look like those. Kind of like a red version of Good-n-Plenty, but without the candy coating.
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Ah.. Australian licorice flowers 😀
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Yes! 😀
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That’s a glorious concoction, Amelia – I love the ‘shape’ of the vase as well as the colours. Really really like this! 🙂
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Thank you, Cathy, I have enjoyed the old pasta container (from the 80s)
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I so wish I could grow Callicarpa with those jewel-like purple berries. Supposedly there are species that can be grown here but you wouldn’t know it from the stock in local garden centers. Your summer rainstorms sound lovely, other than the weed part.
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I am intrigued with these Florida Beautyberry, they grow in sugar sand and nearly full sun. They would have rolled over and died in my Atlanta garden in such a place. I looked and we had 6 inches of rain last week. The weeds are the worst part.
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Love the vase and the bright beautiful flowers you chose for it,.
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Thank you, Donna. Welcome back – haven’t seen you in quite a while.Hope all is well in your world.
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Our local paper ran an article on Beautyberry jam. I am going to pass on that. We have Beautyberries growing on our wooded trails.
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What!?!? I so did not know that beautyberry is useful for jam! I had been wanting to grow it because it is so pretty, but I can not justify it. If I can make jam with it, that would be rad! Even if it is no good, at least I would know. I made jelly with the native Santa Catalina cherries . . . but it was not very good. I tried to make jelly with manzanita, but it does not gel. I intend to win a blue ribbon this year for my blue elderberry jelly!
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Blue Elderberry Jelly! Love it – the Beautyberry Jelly is really pretty. I would probably leave it in the jar for decorative purposes.
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As far as I know, blue elderberry works just like the black elderberries. I really do not know how they compare because I have never seen a black elderberry. The only difference is the blue bloom on the outside of the fruit. That disappears when the fruit is processed.
Beautyberry is pretty enough in pictures. I do not know why it is not popular here.
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Elderberries are native here.My father tried to make wine with them, ugh.
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That is what most of ours get taken for. It seems like too much work to me. I dislike wine anyway.
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So vivid — and interesting shapes and textures too. I’m wondering if that beauty berry is the same thing my friend has growing in her garden. So I sent her the link to this post!
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Thank you, I don’t think Beautyberry will grow as far north as you are. More like to Ohio in the US. This must be what Myrtle eats!
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What a clever thought! I bet.
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Beautyberry would definitely Rock Your Shell.
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