Come later this summer, the delicate pale pink blooms of the beautyberry will develop into tight clusters of glossy, iridescent purple berries that give this native beauty its name.
Beautyberry grows wild in the moist thickets along Pollywog Creek - often entangled in grapevines and hidden by rusty lyonia and the heart-shaped leaves of potato vines - except for this one we transplanted to the backyard along the chain-link fence where it doesn't compete for space and nutrients, and we can more fully appreciate its colorful beauty long after spring and the azaleas have stopped blooming.
Delightfully cool mornings have drawn me and my work out to the backyard swing this week - where I can not only enjoy the beautyberry, but the cardinal family that still visits the feeders and a fox squirrel who's been sneaking in to raid those same feeders.
One morning I was comfortable on the swing - with my laptop, basket of cameras, and a fresh cup of coffee - and focused on an assignment when a long black snake slithered right past my feet and raced into the azaleas. I nearly had a heart attack.
Darn snakes - they've been ruining our day from the very beginning.
It was suggested that I put my feet up on the swing, but there was no room, so I concluded I'd just have to remain on alert - and there's a lesson in that, I'm sure.
Snakes. Lions. They're pretty much all the same.Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.I Peter 5.8
