Dichroa febrifuga Allen Bush each cradled in a prickled

each cradled in a prickled husk

Upright and clean

Flower and fire together is a generosity few plants manage

so site where flower and fruit can both be enjoyed

is one of the great fragrant natives of the eastern United States

Dichroa febrifuga Allen Bush each cradled in a prickledFew garden shrubs carry a resume like Dichroa febrifuga. In the ground this is a handsome, medium evergreen with lacecap heads of small blue flowers in late spring and, better still, clusters of berries in fall that ripen to an almost unreal iridescent, metallic blue, the kind of structural color usually reserved for beetles and tropical birds. A relatively recent introduction from China, the plant sits close enough to Hydrangea, in the family