Few garden plants offer the same element of surprise as Harlequin Glorybower. Native to East Asia, this large, open-structured shrub grows with an endearing dishevelment, reaching up to 20 feet high and sprawling just as wide if given room. The fragrant white flowers appear in loose, 6- to 9-inch clusters through summer — attractive in their own right — but the real spectacle comes in fall, when brilliant metallic-blue drupes emerge from persistent rose-pink calyces. That contrast of blue and pink is almost too vivid to be botanical.

The crushed foliage carries the unmistakable scent of peanut butter, which never stops being curious. Plant it in full sun to light shade in organically rich, well-drained soil, and mulch the roots heavily before winter — in colder parts of its range (zones 7–8), the top growth may die back but the roots usually resprout. It can sucker and seed around with some enthusiasm, so site it where the sprawl is an asset rather than a liability: at a woodland margin, the back of a large shrub border, or as an informal privacy screen.