'Little Henry' might work. The foliage of the Little Henry Sweetspire is stunning. Compact habit is excellent for small gardens. Find a Garden Center that carries Proven Winners plants & products. Copyright 2023. However, it might develop flea beetles or leaf spot. More about the newsletter. During the late summer or early fall, collect the small brown seed pods from the plant. This shrub usually grows to 3 to 6 feet in height, but can be up to 8-feet tall. Plant summersweet in the spring. Store them in a sealed container, tucked away in the refrigerator until spring rolls around. It will come back strong in the spring. Its small size makes it perfect for smaller borders and beds. Clethra - A Growing Guide for Summersweet Shrubs | Garden Design They were beautiful in the fall, changing to shades of red, and held their leaves for a while. Common Name: sweet pepperbush Type: Deciduous shrub Family: Clethraceae Zone: 4 to 8 Height: 4.00 to 6.00 feet Spread: 3.00 to 5.00 feet Bloom Time: July to August Bloom Description: Rose pink Sun: Full sun to part shade Water: Medium to wet Maintenance: Low Suggested Use: Hedge, Naturalize, Rain Garden Flower: Showy, Fragrant Leaf: Good Fall It is also wet site tolerant. I plan to buy at least three more. Plant summersweet in an area that receives full sun to part shade. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. What is not to love??? Vanessa Richins Myers has a BS in horticulture and over 10 years of training and experience as a professional horticulturist and gardener. If you provide us with your name, email address and the payment of a modest $25 annual membership fee, you will become a full member, enabling you to design and save up to 25 of your garden design ideas. Summer Sparkler Summersweet | Plant Addicts Sweet Pepperbush: A Fragrant Native Shrub - UMD Its yellow fall color extends the season of interest. 10 Shrubs That Smell as Good as They Look - My Garden Life Clethra alnifolia, commonly called summersweet, is a deciduous shrub that is native to swampy woodlands, wet marshes, stream banks and seashores, often in sandy soils, along the coast from Maine to Florida and west to Texas. When the root system is well-established and trying to fight its way out of the container, it's time to plant it in the landscape. I'm starting to see some of the red fall color! Itea virginica. The seed capsules turn brown and persist on the plant in . Here's what a colony of Virginia sweetspires should look like when not attacked by fungus or bugs. Suggested Use: Hedge, Naturalize, Rain Garden, Tolerate: Heavy Shade, Erosion, Clay Soil, Wet Soil. I am adding an iron product to the soil and hope that it improves the health of the plants. Here's what a colony of Virginia sweetspires should look like when not attacked by fungus or bugs. No serious insect or disease problems. That way you get blooms and fragrance at different points of the summer, and the great fall foliage of the sweetspire. Opening from bottom to top, they are very attractive to bees, butterflies, and other pollinators, at a time of the year when there's not a wealth of nectars to choose from. I have clethra in sun here in Georgia and it does fine and flowers heavily. Also may be naturalized in cottage gardens, wild gardens or naturalized areas. About 4 to 6 feet apart, depending on the size at maturity and the intended use. The foliage is a nice bright green in summer. We sniffed dozens of different sweetspires in pursuit of the most fragrant variety, and we can say with confidence that we've found it in Scentlandia itea. The species is native to the eastern United States. In fall, the leaves turn an attractive yellow. Full shade is tolerated. There could be several reasons why your Virginia sweetspire isn't blooming, and the first of those reasons is waternot nearly enough of it. Does well in sun or shade, dry or wet soil, all types of soil (normal, clay or sandy) & nice red fall color! This plant is best grown in full sun to part shade in average, medium to wet, acidic, sandy soils. David Beaulieu is a landscaping expert and plant photographer, with 20 years of experience. I have a grouping of Little Henry Sweetspire right near my patio and love it. Summersweet is 3 to 10 feet tall and 3 to 8 feet wide at maturity. 25 Shrubs That Like Wet Soil and Full Sun - Traditional Gardening Summersweet is hard to transplant and slow to recover from transplanting. In colder areas, sweetspire may experience a bit of weather damage coming out of winter, so prune any dead wood out after new growth has begun. The scent and flowers are perfect in the garden and the winter interest color is gorgeous. I've seen some new growth in the month or so since planted. Water seedlings as needed, then plant when they're sturdy. They were purchased at 3 different times of the year from 2 different sellers in spring 2019. Then use a good potting medium and seed trays to germinate the plants indoors. Merlot is named for its fall color which is dark red and persists into winter. Water regularly as needed so the soil does not dry out. I am disappointed in the lack of scent, especially given its name, so for this alone I would rate the shrub as 3 stars. So if you'd rather have the fragrant blooms of clethra in the summer (patio season? Provide moist, humus-rich, slightly acidic, well . However, I did not get any blooms this year. 20+ Rain Garden Plants That most likely would work, but if that's what you're going to have to do constantly to maintain a good-looking planting of sweetspires, that's when I'd give up and switch to fothergilla, summersweet, abelia, dwarf oakleaf hydrangea or another alternative. Except for fertilization and minor pruning, this plant is maintenance-free. Noteworthy CharacteristicsFragrant flowers. Sweetspire is an easy-care shrub, about four feet by four feet (1.2 by 1.2 meters) at maturity that isn't fussy about soil or weather conditions. Find out where you fall in the USDA Hardiness Zones database. One of the largest summersweet cultivars, featuring rose-colored buds that gradually soften to pale pink as the flowers open and mature. All rights reserved (About Us). Though this native plant is much beloved for its sweetly scented summer blooms, not all plants exhibit equally strong fragrance, so it was our primary goal in introducing our next variety. Create a membership account to save your garden designs and to view them on any device. She has 30+ years of experience with year-round organic gardening; seed starting and saving; growing heirloom plants, perennials, and annuals; and sustainable and urban farming. You can deadhead to remove flowers past their prime, but otherwise, you can usually just leave this shrub alone unless you desire a neatly groomed look. Chokeberries, also known as Aronia, are multi-stemmed shrubs with white flowers, red or black glossy berries, and great red fall color.