I have a beautyberry shrub approx. 6 yrs. old planted in a south facing yard with some shade. Only one year has it shown a lot of berries and they didn't last past October. I've been told I need a second shrub in the area to successfully propagate berries. True? or do I have another problem.
Yes, the convention is that most kinds of Callicarpa are not self-fertile. But if that was the case with your situation it is a bit strange that it did manage to produce one crop one year. Where did the pollen come from, if it usually is not being serviced most years?
Could be that other specimens are a fair distance away, at the flying range limit of whatever insect pollinates them. With the good year, there's the possibility that a neighbour bought one too, kept it for a year, and then got rid of it - people are like that surprisingly often. Or just that the pollinators were a bit more efficient than normal that year.
