This Nepalese woodland shrub is adorned first with clusters of white-tipped, tubular pink flowers surrounded by beet-red bracts. Cherished by birds and gardeners alike, its fruit later matures into shiny chocolate-brown berries that taste like caramel-flavored raisins. Pointed, heart-shaped leaves extend stiffly from bamboo-like, hollow sea-green stems. We plant it as a specimen next to walkways so that we can enjoy the colorful details. Undemanding in any fertile soil, Leycesteria’s tall stalks appreciate an extra thick layer of winter mulch in colder climates, where they may die to the ground, but will rapidly leap skyward in the spring.

Blooms late July–October

Size: 6' 0" high x 4' 0" wide.

Zone 6/7.

A newly introduced English cultivar, ‘Golden Lanterns’ has the same tantalizing attributes as the species but with an illuminated twist. Dark burgundy bracts and berries become intriguing counterpoints to amber-tinted new growth and the lambent yellow-green foliage that promises to brighten your daytime, or even moonlight garden stroll. (PPAF).

Blooms late July–October.

Size: 4' 0" – 6' 0" high x 4' 0" wide.

Zone 6/7.