A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Help for my Beautyberry bush?

A couple weeks ago, I planted two Amethyst Beautyberry bushes. Bought from the same place, planted on the same day, treated the same with regard to water & light. The beds out front were built & amended the same.

The bush to the right of the door is still very pretty:


The bush to the left of the door, however, started turning brown this week. Now it is almost completely brown except for the tip of one branch:

I don't know if you can see it very well, but even the berries are starting to die!

Any thoughts on causes and/or solutions?

Thanks!

That looks like the plant I bought recently.
Is it also called Dantura?

I've never heard it called that - the scientific name is callicarpa.

you may have bought one that was diseased or may have planted it improperly

Well, I figured it out...I think. RugbyHukr, you were right, I planted it improperly.

I dug it up on Friday night - it was completely root-bound. I had thought that I loosened the roots enough, but apparently not. So, I spent about 15 minutes with the little 3-prong hand rake, loosening roots and getting PACKED dirt out from between them.

The bush is replanted now, but I ended up chopping it back to 3-4" stubs to try and save it. Not supposed to do that until after the berries fall off in late winter, but oh well...

I've got to get one of those someday.

Maybe a group of them in a cluster.