Love pearl bushes bear striking fruits and, depending on the species, show magnificent autumn foliage. Introducing the extraordinary wood species.
The genus of the beautiful fruits (Callicarpa) belongs to the verbena family (Verbenaceae). The approximately 100 species of the genus Callicarpa come from the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Australia and North and Central America. The name "Callicarpa" goes back to the Greek word "kallíkarpos", which roughly means "rich in beautiful fruits". In our latitudes, the love pearl bush was introduced as an ornamental tree and there are about six species in the nurseries in propagation. We will introduce you to the unusual tree and give you tips on choosing a variety, planting and caring for the love pearl bush.
Love Pearl Bush: Flower, Berries and Properties
The beauty fruit is a shrub that is usually 2 to 3 m high, in exceptional cases even reaching 4 m in height and up to 2.5 m wide. The deciduous, opposite leaves of the species represented by us are about 5 to 12 cm long and elliptically pointed. In autumn, the matt green and rough-to-the-touch foliage of the beauty fruit turns light yellow to orange. The numerous flowers of the beauty fruit attract numerous bumblebees, hoverflies and bees during the flowering period from June to August. Even on young plants, the stalked, light purple inflorescences appear on the two-year-old wood in the leaf axils of the plant. The initially light green fruits need some time to develop and only in autumn does the shrub present itself with its purple berry-like drupes. There are now also white-fruited beauty fruit varieties on the market. They have a shiny surface, can be up to 4 mm thick and appear in cymes. In the garden, beautiful fruit bushes are a feast for the eyes that quickly attract everyone's attention. The shrub's conspicuous blue, violet or white drupes remain on the bare branch until about December and thus add a touch of color to the wintry landscape. As a bird food tree, the fruits of the beauty fruit provide additional food in winter.
The most popular beauty fruit types and varieties
There are different types and varieties of beauty fruit bushes to choose from. We introduce you to the best types and varieties of love pearl bushes.
- Callicarpa americana: American beauty fruit with a growth height of 1.8 to 2.4 m and felty hairy leaves. The fruits are red-purple and appear in cymes.
- Callicarpa bodinieri ˈMagical Purple Giantˈ: Shrub up to 3 m tall with light violet fruits and red-orange autumn colours.
- Callicarpa bodinieri ˈProfusionˈ: Love pearl bush 2 to 4 m high and up to 2.5 m wide. Deciduous shrub and light yellow to orange autumn colour.
- Callicarpa dichotoma ˈIssaiˈ: Filigree and slow-growing purple love pearl bush, 2 m high and 1.5 m wide. Very hardy variety with small, red-violet fruits and purple autumn colours.
- Callicarpa giraldii: Chinese beauty fruit with a height and width of 2 to 3 m. Makes about 4 mm large, glossy purple fruits in autumn.
- Callicarpa japonica ˈLeucocarpaˈ: Japanese beauty fruit growing to a height and width of 1.5 to 2.5 m peek out.
Is the beauty fruit poisonous?
The pretty fruits of the love pearl bush are poisonous to humans and pets such as cats or dogs. The beauty fruit is therefore not edible - however, small children in particular can be attracted to the colorful fruit. So if small children often play in the garden unsupervised, you should avoid planting a beauty fruit. However, the berry-shaped drupes of the love pearl bush are edible for birds and some species like to use them in winter.
Planting a love pearl bush: You should pay attention to this
As with most shrubs, the best time to plant the beauty fruit is in late autumn - from October to November - or alternatively in early spring in March. The love pearl bush can be planted individually as a large bush. If the pollination and thus the fruit set should be better, you can also plant several plants together at a distance of about 2 meters from each other.
The ideal location for the love pearl bush is sunny and sheltered on light to moderately heavy andevenly moist, acidic to slightly acidic soils. The shrub hardly thrives on clearly calcareous locations and dies after a few miserable years. Even with an acidic substrate, these soils can only be made suitable with difficulty, since the roots reach deep into the soil and there they quickly encounter calcareous soil. With the help of acidic potting soil, such as rhododendron substrate, at least neutral or slightly alkaline soils can be made suitable for the love pearl bush. Before planting, first loosen the soil over a large area and work in acidic soil if necessary. Above all, the acidic substrate should be placed deep in the future planting hole, as the love pearl shrub hardly forms branched roots and, above all, vertical roots that hardly spread to the side.
Now put your beautiful fruit bushes in the prepared planting hole, fill it with soil, press it down well and then water it vigorously. In this way, the roots of the love pearl bush come into contact with the ground and can grow well. When planting new plants in late autumn and young shrubs up to their third year, be sure to think about good winter protection.
Tip: A superficial layer of bark mulch is decomposed by soil organisms over time and therefore promotes soil acidification, so that the environment for the beauty fruit shrub is maintained and improved. However, these mulch materials bind the essential nutrient nitrogen when they decompose, so that compensatory fertilization makes sense in order to provide the beautiful fruit with sufficient nutrients and not cause any deficiency symptoms.
We recommend our Plantura organic universal fertilizer, which is worked into the surface under the bark mulch and slowly and evenly releases the nutrients there as a long-term fertiliser.
Summary of planting love pearl bush:
- Planting time: late autumn or early spring
- Location: Sunny and sheltered
- Soil: acidic to slightly acidic
- Planting distance: about 2 meters
Love Pearl Bush: Care
The love pearl bush is a fairly easy-care tree and is therefore also suitable for beginners when gardening. We provide tips on the most important care measures, fertilization and pruning of the beauty fruit.
Watering and fertilizing the beautiful fruit
The Beautyfruit prefers oneconstant water supply and must never be completely dry, even in midsummer. Water young plants in particular in the mornings of hot summers and cover the ground under the shrub with a layer of bark mulch, plant clippings or leaves to reduce evaporation. Established, older shrubs usually do without any additional watering. The situation is different with love pearl bushes in pots, because here they have to be watered regularly and, on the other hand, waterlogging must be prevented with the help of a 3 to 5 cm thick drainage layer and good water drainage. In general, the love pearl bush does not have to be fertilized extra. However, you can support the growth of freshly planted shrubs with a slow-release fertilizer worked into the surface, such as our Plantura organic universal fertilizer. The predominantly organic fertilizer granulate is slowly decomposed by soil organisms and thus releases its nutrients for the plant roots over a long period of time.
Pruning Love Pearl Bush
The love pearl bush tolerates pruning well and can easily be cut back immediately after flowering to keep it in shape. If the shrubs get too big and start to bare or hardly bloom anymore, you should cut back heavily once. This pruning by about half the length of the branches, which is necessary every three to four years, can be done between November and the beginning of March when the love pearl bush is dormant. Branches that are too long, bare, growing inwards or branches that have been damaged by frost are cut off with sharp pruning shears. After pruning, the beauty fruit sprout fresh and will only bear flowers and fruit again the following year on the two-year-old wood.
Propagate love pearl bush
Love Pearl Bushes can be propagated by seed and cuttings. The seeds of the beauty fruit are in the berry-shaped drupes. Sowing can take place indoors all year round. To do this, soak the seeds of the love pearl bush in lukewarm water for about 24 hours. Before sowing, fill a seed tray or pots with a low-nutrient potting soil such as our Plantura organic herb and seed soil. Sow the soaked seeds about 1 cm deep in the ground, moisten them well and let them germinate at about 20 °C. The love pearl bush needs about two to three weeks to germinate with even moisture and warmth. After a few weeks, the first real leaves appear and the plants can be repotted or planted outside.
Young one year oldsShoots of the beauty fruit can be cut in June and August for the propagation of cuttings. To do this, cut off one-year-old shoots without berries to a length of about 10 cm, remove all the leaves except for the top ones and put the shoot pieces in a pot filled with a mixture of potting soil and a third of sand. Only the top leaves and about 1 cm of the stem should stick out of the ground. Keep the soil well moist over the next few weeks and place the cuttings in a cool and bright place at around 10 to 15°C. The rooted beauty fruit bushes spend the winter frost-free and with economical water supply in the house. The love pearl bushes are not planted out until the following spring.
Is the love pearl bush hardy?
The beauty fruit is mostly hardy here. Many varieties, such as Callicarpa dichotoma ˈIssaiˈ, also tolerate colder temperatures down to -20 °C. However, cold winters, which can also occur here, are particularly hard on young beauty fruit bushes. A large part of the shrub can freeze back here. The plants are therefore grateful for a winter protection of leaves and compost on the ground and a fleece or jute covering of the above-ground part in young and newly planted shrubs. From around the third year, all beauty fruit shrubs are hardy. Love pearl bushes in tubs should be overwintered frost-free in the garden shed or shed, because there is a risk that the soil in the pot, including the sensitive roots, will freeze through and the whole plant will die.
Another beautiful tree with autumn colors is the service pear, which also produces delicious fruit and provides food for bees and birds.