I don't have one myself, I do think their attractive. I've seen them grown around here and they are offered at nurseries. Seeing it's a North American native, it's probably a good choice.
Good luck
Maryanne in WMass

Here is a link that might be useful: Callicarpa

Not all callicarpas are native. Only C. americana is and it's not the most showy of all, though it is the largest one (6-8').
C. bodinieri ('Profusion', 'Early Amethist' etc) is of Chinise origin (5-6' tall) and C. dichotoma ('Issai') is from Japan (3-4' tall and as wide).
All callicarpas are root hardy to z5 and stem hardy to z6, so in z5 it could be grown similarly to caryopteris or buddleia i.e. cut to 6" above the ground every spring and you'll still have flowering and berry production notwithstanding as it blooms on new wood.
Shrub is practicaly desease free and seldom bothered by pests. Fruits are edible, but so bitter that even birds leave them alone untill nothing else left to eat. Therefore in a good years they persist on a bush till December-January.
It's not soil demanding and could grow practicaly everywhere where drainage is not an issue. Poor soils, high or low pH is OK.
Best suited for a sunny edge of the woods, but could take some shade. In such case flower/fruit production will be slightly, but insignificantly reduced. For the best cross polination (fruit production) another shrub of the same or different origin could be planted nearby.
Great shrub for the fall-early winter interest, but nothing special for the rest of the year except brief period of spring bloom which usually goes unnoticed since flowers are small and covered by leaves.

I have a white berried one, (got it at the spring swap, in fact, hi George) and the flowers were insignificant. The berries are quite pretty, though.
Jo

If Russian Olive (here when I got here) and Ferns like an area, will this? For that matter, if poison ivy likes an area, will this?

Location is south facing edge of woods, and they would get NO shade.

Martie

Martie, full sun to part shade, according to UConn and MOBOT websites.

These are all growing in Boston at the Arnold Arboretum zone 6, They are rather spectacular when in fruit. But not much the rest of the year.
Callicarpa americana, USA
Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii, China
Callicarpa cathayana, China
Callicarpa dichotoma, China and Korea
Callicarpa japonica, Japan and Korea
Callicarpa kwangtungensis, China

i am in z. 5 and have 6 callicarpa profusion; all in sun. the most mature one was put in maybe 5 or 6 yrs ago and just this yr.has finally decided it is happy, put on huge growth this season and is now heavily berried. so from that example, i'm guessing that the others i put in last yr. will take their own sweet time as well. stonegate gardens in lincoln has had the biggest/best priced i have found.beautiful combined with sedum and eupatorium and miscanthus stricta. another GREAT ppl (more blue, really)
fall blooming shrub is Vitex Agnus Castus. my fav plant, along with perilla, for scent of the foliage when brushed.
big blue spires. z.6 hardy above the ground, but here in z.5 dies to ground and resprouts from base in LATE spring, reaching an ultimate height of 4-6'. hard to find but have bought at katsura gdns in plymouth,sylvan nurs in so.dartmouth and northeast nurseries in peabody (all mass.)
a real must for me!

I'm in zone 5 or 6, a northwest Boston suburb. I've got three of them and they are truly gorgeous in the fall. They need to be planted in pairs so they pollinate and produce berries.

But you prune them back harshly each spring to get better flowering, so they never get too big. The leaves are a lovely chartreuse and the color combo of berry and leaf is delightful.

Their small size is important (they don't even get as big as my purple coneflowers) because they sit around doing nothing until fall--their flowers are tiny and non-descript.

Yes, they greatly enhance my garden and I recommend them highly. I got mine from White Flower Farm as I didn't see any in my local nurseries.

They look great in fall floral arrangements!

Callicarpa has been added to my must-have list. There was a great discussion on the Shrub forum recently about this plant and if this many respected folks like it, I'll wait however long I need to for it to come into its own.

Martie

Arbo_retum, I'm not sure why it took so long for yours to become established (maybe z5 is the clue?), but pair of C. bodinieri 'Profusion' I planted in spring of 2004 as bunch of 2' tall twigs become full 6x4-5' shrubs by now.
Actually, it's hard to determine a real size of the shrub as it has no definite shape, some stems simply growing straight up, some decided to be completely prostrate and some are going up and then start arching.
When it will lose all its leaves in November I'll have a better picture of its structure, but in any event I don't think it need a 'shape' pruning as it's a 'wild thing' and should be treated as such.
On another side, few C. dichotoma 'Issai' I saw in landscapes look more like a 'garden' shrubs due to smaller statue and more refined shape.
Mine planted at the edge of the woods with hemlocks as background, SE exposure, sun from 11am till 4pm, unammended clay.