Owls, Beautyberry, and Scat -- Oh, My!

Yesterday, I accompanied Girl 2 and 2 school buses full of 2nd graders to Crowley's Ridge Nature Center in Jonesboro.  Our favorite part was learning all about owls and even getting to pet one.

Did you know that owls' eyes are fixed in their skulls, so they can't move them around in their heads?  That's why they need such extraordinary range of motion in their necks.

Did you know that their eyes make up about 5% of their body weight?  That would be comparable to us walking around with eyes the size of softballs!

Did you know that they can hear a mouse scurrying from 75 yards away?

Anyway,  as I was walking into the building, I saw the most beautiful plant.  I snapped this pic and then, a little self-consciously, went inside to ask the ranger at the desk whether she knew what type of plant it was.  She smiled knowingly and directed me to the stack of flyers they'd printed out to offer the MANY visitors who inquire.  Wow!

It's an American Beautyberry but is also known as a French mulberry.  Here's some basic info I gleaned from the flyer . . . 

This 6 ft. tall shrub is a member of the verbena family and flowers in the midsummer.  In the fall, it develops bb-sized purple berries that drape in gorgeous clusters.  

It's berries are a favorite of songbirds and deer, and it's crushed leaves deter mosquitoes and ticks.  

It's a perennial shrub that fruits only on new growth, so it is best cut it back to the ground each winter.

It will flower and fruit in medium to heavy shade but will produce much more if it receives at least some direct sunlight each day.  

The ranger said that most of the Beautyberry shrubs she's seen other places pale in comparison to the ones located at the nature center.   She theorizes that this is because gardeners fail to cut them back each year and because the nature center is home to LOTS of pollinators.  

I'm hoping to be able to find a source for the Beautyberry so that I can put some in at our new place.  Anyone know where they are sold?

While Girl 2's favorite thing was petting the owl, a close second was the scat and print exhibit.  She's been hunting tracks out at the new farm, so John and I picked her up a field guide while we were in Minneapolis last week.  Since then, she's been using it and going around the backyard replicating the tracks from the guide by drawing in the dirt.  Then, she and Little Boy go exploring, field guide in tow, and she tries to get him to identify the various species we've got roaming around our backyard.  Elk?  Who knew?  ;)