Studs for the late summer garden

It's disgustingly hot/humid this holiday weekend.
Sort of saps the gardening juices.
But it's refreshing to see a couple stud performers doing their thing despite the weather.
These pictures are all from this weekend.
Anyone else have any star performers for a late summer show?

#1 is beautyberry (this one is Callicarpa dichotoma Issai).
#2 is the white-berried version (not sure which species this is, maybe c. americana?).
#3 is Caryopteris divaricata Snow Fairy. A dainty-foliaged cultivar which holds up remarkably well despite the intense amount of white variegation.
#4 is Caryopteris divaricata Snow Fairy again, showing the dainty blue flowers atop each stem.
#5 is another caryopteris, this time C. incana Sunshine Blue. The golden foliage is a nice foil for the blue flowers.

Looking good Wee. I'm at the beach but there are plenty of berries coming ripe in our yard now. Our 30 plant pyracantha hedge is getting to full color. I'll have to post some pics when I get back. It's been über dry in my area but lucky my plants have a good plant Dad ;-P

I covet your Callicarpa! It has been very warm (mid 80's!) and humid here the past several days, and I for one am looking forward to fall. I hope y'all have been getting some timely rains to go along with the heat. We had about 3" yesterday, with some areas supposedly getting 6". This has been a great year for herbaceous plants, but yesterday's rains beat them down. My in-laws live in north central Illinois and they desperately need rain.

We are doing terrible for rain over the last 7 weeks. We've had 2.81" since July 16. Pretty lame.

Very nice...stud performers for sure! Thanks for the close-ups too.

I'm looking forward to pics of that Pyracantha hedge.

I got home a little bit ago and I think it needs about a week yet. We are busy catching up on chores and I'm writing this from the deli line at the store. Lol

Huh, all this time I never knew there was such a thing as catching up on chores. Tell me you're making this stuff up ; )

All my beautyberries are producing berries. When is 95+ in the daytime, it is hard to get in an autumn frame of mind. This is a little earlier than usual. But not complaining, we're getting good rain to make up for the hellacious July here.

Weerobin, tell me about how you care for carypteris. I added it to my Plant Delights wish list as it seems I can grow it. Great pics, btw

I don't do anything special for the caryopteris. I think they mainly want good drainage.
I'm quite impressed with 'Snow Fairy', seems to get more impressive each year.
And it has such a very 'white' overall appearance
- still can't get over how vigorous it is with so little chlorophyll.

what kind of soil do you have, how much watering do you do for it, sun or shade

Both caryopteris are in fairly full sun.
I have lots of big trees, so there are always periods of partial shade.
My soil is clay chronically amended by the leaves of those big trees.
But I'm not a fussy gardener; no fertilizer, compost, mulching, etc.
I've lost some caryopteris in the past, maybe due to inadequate drainage.

thank you, I think I might give it a try

Mipii...'catching up on chores' does sound made up doesn't it? My parents are visiting PA and coming to our house this weekend so we need to get the house in order and such.

I do like that white callicarpa Wee, that's pretty sweet. White berries are cool. I planted a few Symphoricarpos alba this year and I'm excited to see how they do next year. They took a little of a beating sitting in a pot half the summer and I think they have spider mites so hopefully next year will be better for them.

My late summer high performing shrubs:

#1 Calluna vulgaris 'Dark Beauty"
#2, #3 Caryopteris 'Blue Balloon'
#4 Pieris 'Little Heath' not studly, just always nice.
#5 a shrubby variegated Wallflower, shrubby, blooms 6 months nonstop

Nice, Pistil. Do I see an aconitum trying to show off in pic #2, too?
My aconitum's are just getting going.
I like the silver foliaged foil to your caryopteris in #3 also - is that an artemisia?
I will have to admire your Calluna & Pieris. I've killed many of both.
Yours are really nice - which is of course why I've tried & killed so many...

Yes, in fact I had not realized the Aconite was blooming-we had the worst summer storm in history here last week and the aster and the aconite fell into the Caryopteris. This is my first bloom of the aconite and I really like it. I have killed a half dozen or so of these, this is the first to get established and bloom!
The artemisia is 'Valerie Finnis", which I hope will not be invasive. This is it's second year, so far so good. I cut off the flower stalks, in that particular location they were not attractive. Calluna here are truly hardy and seem unkillable here once established, but that first year, and in the pot from the store, if they dry out once they are goners.
I LOVE the 'Blue Balloon' caryopteris. so do the bees. I planted two 'Snow Fairies' this spring, I hope they grow as well. All I do to my 'Blue Balloon is whack it off to about 6" tall in early spring, and water occasionally in summer. And think about what to plant next to it!

That Calluna and Caryopteris are very nice!

I haven't been whacking my Snow Fairy back - maybe I need to start doing it?
It's at least 6ft across at this point, but still looks full.

I'll have to admire your Calluna & Pieris too. I've killed one of each and thought my soil was not acid enough. One of these days I'll try again...in a warmer climate...as soon as I muster the courage and the finances, lol.

Very, very nice Pistil.

When I was a less informed gardener, I bought a Pieris at Home Depot and planted it in full baking sun. Yeah, it died. I still laugh at myself about that one.

i always cut back my collection of caryopteris. it encourages a denser bush and more blooms. The bees are having a field day out there currently.

I never let the Caryopteris go, so I do not know how they would do left to their own impulses, I thought they might get too big for the space. This way I get a 4 foot globe of blue, very neat.
I planted two 'Snow Fairy' this year, they do not seem very vigorous, I was wondering if they had the vigor to tolerate a yearly hard pruning. At 6 feet, you might find out next year?

Took a walk around (too late) this evening, and the light wasn't very good for photos - but I'll show some anyway. Maybe after the rainy/cloudy conditions blow by tomorrow I can get some better images of the fall rapscallions around the Valley.

1. Viburnum prunifolium (Blackhaw Viburnum) regaled with as many fruit as you can pack on a large shrub/small tree

2. Viburnum prunifolium closeup of the glorious fruit moving through the coloration cycle toward blue/black at maturity

3. Viburnum dentatum var. deamii - an Arrowwood Viburnum variety still holding fruit well after ripening and after birds have completely stripped most other selections

4. Ilex verticillata (Winterberry Holly) - a smattering of seedlings displaying various levels of fruit set density and foliage quality

5. Ilex verticillata 'Tiasquam' - a Winterberry Holly selection by the late Polly Hill showing exceptionally dark green foliage quality and heavy fruit set

Lookin' good VV. I saw a Viburnum with orange berries yesterday but I didn't know what it was. It was definitely not a V. dilatatum 'Michael Dodge'. Whichever it was it would have had to been fairly common since it was in a yard with little out of the ordinary. The leaves were smooth and the edges were serrated almost like a V. dentatum but I didn't know those would have orange berries unless they are that color before they change to blue.

Here are some of my 'studs' of the fall garden. A lot of my studs not pictured are first years so there are no berries yet.

The first two are our pyracantha hedge
Red Sprite - Issai beautyberry - Red Sprite
Winter Red winterberry
Red Sprite close up

The first two are of a Brandywine Viburnum
Viburnum dilatatum 'Erie'
Viburnum dilatatum 'Michael Dodge' - I don't think they've reached full color yet.

Very fructiferous, Seq! Really beautiful.

Indeed. We have nearly 90 berry bearing shrubs in the ground now. It's been a major focus of mine the past two seasons. I believe 27 of them are viburnums. VV and Gary Ladman have me hooked.

Very berryific Seq, I have to agree with Wee. I love the Pyracantha hedge and the Red Sprite - Issai beautyberry combo. Okay, I'll even give you a wow!

How old is your V. Brandywine? Lot's of gorgeous berries there too.

Thank you guys. The Brandywine was planted late summer 2013. I planted it with a Winterthur but the Winterthur barely gets any berries. So this year I bought an Augustifolium too with the idea being that it will help the Winterthur berry.