Typically grows 3-4' (less frequently to 5') tall with a similar spread. Open them up and remove the seeds. The flowers are notable for their size, how late they bloom, and their ability to bloom even in the shade. I admire it daily as I walk past it and it feels like it is different every day. As colorful as burning bush, but native to North America and pollinator friendly! Learn tips for creating your most beautiful home and garden ever. To do so: Fill seeding trays or pots with moist potting mixture, and press the seeds in so they are halfway-buried. Enhancing the prolific floral display are lustrous green leaves that turn brilliant golden-yellow in fall. Virginia sweetspire grows quite well in very hot conditions, provided it gets plenty of water. Find plants you love and create idea boards for all your projects. As low as $29.99 . My ilex cornuta shrubs (trees?) All Rights Reserved. It was discovered in 1992 as a sport of C. alnifolia Pink Spire. Bed. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BUSH TO ANYONE That likes a good fragrance and very pretty. They will also do well in full sun as long as you keep the soil moist. Water seedlings as needed, then plant when they're sturdy. Mass or group in lawns, foundations or shrub borders. Sweetspire's dagger-like leaves will change from green to red and orange as they turn. These may survive into winter in some climates. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, Healthy Soil Is at the Heart of a Thriving Garden, Gardening Gift Ideas for Mothers Day 2023, 6 Fantastic Annuals to Grow From Seed in the Northwest, Lilacs: How to Grow Them and Favorite Varieties, Companion Planting for Successful Southern California Vegetable Gardens, Ready, Set, Spring! The species is native to the eastern United States. For one thing, they're survivors that'll often keep coming back year after year even though they're suffering disease or bug issues. Feed these plants each spring with a balanced granular fertilizer mixed into the soil. Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica; Zones 5-9) enjoys the same cultural requirements as summersweet and it will do fine in a regular garden setting as long as the soil is relatively moist. of the member-only content library. BEST SMELL,I have it at my front porch. Root suckering will be most prevalent with shrubs planted in wet ground. They were both planted on a small slope, with sun until early afternoon, and have been absolutely great the entire time. More about the newsletter. It works well in a naturalized landscape or garden. Plant near a patio or other outdoor living space to fully enjoy the sweet-smelling flowers. I am a huge fan of Proven Winners and own a lot of their shrubs, perennials, and annuals, and they usually do not disappoint. Stressed plants are more likely to run into bug and disease problems than "happy" ones in soils, sites and weather they prefer. Itea virginica. Grow taller varieties as hedges or privacy screens or as a backdrop in a perennial garden. Find out where you fall in the USDA Hardiness Zones database. Vanilla Spice Buy now from Proven Winners. Becoming a contributing member of Gardenia is easy and can be done in just a few minutes. Elsewhere, summersweet looks nice when grouped in planting beds or lined up as a shrub border. You say to plant "around" the patio, does that mean you are looking at planting several? She is a former Clemson University Extension Agent. CareProvide full sun to partial shade and fertile, preferably acidic, medium to wet soil. Tolerates full shade. Be inspired with our Gardener's Idea Book and Winner's Circle newsletter, Little Henry - Sweetspire - Itea virginica. Sugartina 'Crystalina' Summersweet. In the right conditions, it can spread and fill in quickly via suckering roots, making it good for erosion control. I have 9 Scentlandia. David Beaulieu is a landscaping expert and plant photographer, with 20 years of experience. I'd hate to give up on sweetspire because it's a pretty plant when it's healthy. One of the largest summersweet cultivars, featuring rose-colored buds that gradually soften to pale pink as the flowers open and mature. Photo by: Tim Ludwig / Millette Photomedia. Some people would recommend using a fungicide to combat the leaf disease and horticultural oil or a similar scale-killing insecticide to deal with the bugs. Summersweet typically spreads to 4 to 6 feet and forms an oval shape. Copyright 2023. Accept This may sound drastic, but what I'd probably do in your case is whack back all growth to the ground and burn or get rid of the wood. Cover with a thin layer of sand, then keep them in low light under plastic. Its mounded, compact stature makes it an improvement over older varieties such as the old favorite 'Henry's Garnet'. Politique d'Utilisation des Cookies de Houzz. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. The blooms are raceme flowers, 2- to 6-inches long, that may be white, pink, or rose-colored and have a sweet fragrance. Equally as pretty in the fall with it's bright orange foliage. Thanks. Vanessa Richins Myers has a BS in horticulture and over 10 years of training and experience as a professional horticulturist and gardener. Does well in sun or shade, dry or wet soil, all types of soil (normal, clay or sandy) & nice red fall color! The shrub grows best in partial shade and a moist, slightly acid soil. Suggested Use: Hedge, Naturalize, Rain Garden, Tolerate: Heavy Shade, Erosion, Clay Soil, Wet Soil. In USDA growing zone 5a (the northern end of its range), a bush will likely experience several inches of winter dieback on the tops of the branches (they turn a tan color). Hot climates call for more water. Native to swampy woodlands and marshes, clethra flourish in wet ground and will even tolerate standing water, making them a good choice for low-lying areas of the garden. Such dieback in winter means the loss of some of the flower buds that produce blooms in spring. Additional feeding during the growing season is not necessary. The flowers are produced on vertical flower spikes about 6 inches long that protrude from the glossy green foliage. Itea is one of the most shade tolerant flowering shrubs and thrives even in wet soils, making it an excellent problem solver. After the bloom, the flowers leave small, dark brown seed capsule fruits that look like peppercorns. It also attracts hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. Several popular cultivars of Virginia Sweetspire are available, including: You can prune Virginia sweetspire to shape it or control its size, but pruning is not otherwise necessary. However, it might develop flea beetles or leaf spot. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Growing Zones: 3-8 . Prune as needed to maintain the desired shape and remove dead, diseased, and damaged branches. Summersweet seeds are easy to plant and they germinate quickly; seeds can be harvested in autumn and have no specific storage needs. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. The Spruce uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. It is a lovely shrub and is doing well (I make sure that it gets enough water, especially during this year's drought) except that it has chlorosis. 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. In spite of the information that says it is not picky about pH conditions, it needs iron to do well in SE Wisconsin, where we have lime based soil. I have a grouping of Little Henry Sweetspire right near my patio and love it. This compact selection reaches 3 to 5 feet tall. The Garden wouldn't be the Garden without our Members, Donors and Volunteers. Compact size makes this an ideal flowering shrub for smaller gardens. Best all around shrub in my opinion. Work in a bit of pelleted sulfur or organic matter, such as sawdust or leaves. Given ideal conditions, this plant can survive for up to 40 years. Get daily tips & tricks to help make your best home, How to Grow and Care for Japanese Barberry, How to Grow and Care for Mexican Bush Sage, How to Grow and Care for Kohuhu (Pittosporum tenuifolium), How to Grow and Care for Chinese Snowball Viburnum, How to Grow and Care for Rockspray Cotoneaster, Summersweet, sweet pepperbush, clethra, coastal sweet pepperbush, poor man's soap. This plant can work in a variety of soil pHs, types, and moisture levels. That'll take the majority of scale insects and eggs along with it. Virginia sweetspire is a deciduous shrub with arching stems and alternate simple leaves that are oval in shape and dark green in color. Create a membership account to save your garden designs and to view them on any device. Full Shade to Full Sun. The foliage is a nice bright green in summer. Foliage until first hard frost. Flea beetles can be handled with neem oil, while leaf spot is remedied through neem oil, baking soda solutions, copper fungicide, or copper and pyrethrins. The optimum amount of sun or shade each plant needs to thrive: Full Sun (6+ hours), Part Sun (4-6 hours), Full Shade (up to 4 hours). A: I've seen occasional fungal leaf-spotting on Virginia sweetspires, but scale attack isn't common. I am adding an iron product to the soil and hope that it improves the health of the plants. It is also a delightful addition to the mixed border. In a partial shade spot, another clethra does not flower nearly as well. Growing Zones: 3 . ), that might be the right one. Summersweet tolerates clay soil and full shade. The Best Deer Resistant Plants for Your Garden Itea is one of the few shrubs that will still flower reasonably well even in shade. Keeping a Virginia sweetspire in a container for the first season is entirely possible. Summersweet typically spreads to 4 to 6 feet and forms an oval shape. It likes humusy soils, so mixing in compost before planting is a good idea. Virginia sweetspire is a deciduous shrub with arching stems and alternate simple leaves that are oval in shape and dark green in color. Though the plant can be started indoors, once a root system is established in the container, it needs to go into the ground to thrive. Lots of good points here on things to consider. They bloomed in 2019 no fragrance detected. are just awful for about a week each year thanks to the bees. Great for massing on large banks, in beds, and perennial and shrub borders. 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. Eventually, the leaves turn yellow and die. The Latin name for summersweet is Clethra alnifolia. Soil: moist to wet soil; pH 4.5-6.5. Has a compact habit similar to Hummingbird but with sturdier branches that hold the slender 6-inch flower spikes upright like candles rather than allowing them to flop over. Itea needs little maintenance. I would re-purchase based on the fall interest alone. (George Weigel) Q: My Virginia sweetspire plants have looked awful by summer's end the last two. This plant is quite hardy and doesn't have any serious pests to contend with. Q: My Virginia sweetspire plants have looked awful by summer's end the last two years. While every effort has been made to describe these plants accurately, please keep in mind that height, bloom time, and color may differ in various climates. The seed capsules turn brown and persist on the plant in . . Any thoughts on these two shrubs? Here is a link that might be useful: Little Henry in fall Iris GW 16 years ago bogie 16 years ago erictammy Original Author 16 years ago Wow, So much info. * Required | We will never sell or distribute your email to any other parties or organizations. So far, the plant is doing very well. Julie Thompson-Adolf is a Master Gardener and author. Soils should not be allowed to dry out. Thanks. Here are ideas for taking advantage of its many attributes: RELATED: They will thrive in coastal areas as well because of their resistance to salt spray and brackish water. Nice plant for an area you want to be filled in away from the house where deer are not a problem. No serious insect or disease problems. Summersweet is tolerant of a range of garden conditions including shade . It grows well in both full sun and partial shade, though it will achieve the best shape, flower color, and fall color in full sun. Plant in spring after the ground thaws or in early fall before it freezes. Store them in a sealed container, tucked away in the refrigerator until spring rolls around. Get daily tips & tricks to help make your best home, How to Grow Virginia Sweetspire From Seed, Potting and Repotting Virginia Sweetspire. Summersweet is a versatile shrub that thrives in most climates and is suitable as a specimen plant or a hedge. They also suggested as an option pulling the plants and starting over again. Best Flowering Shrubs for Season-Long Color I find the fragrance of the Clethra more dramatic but find the fall foliage of 'Little Henry' one of the best fall foliage plants. Ruby Spice grows to about 4 to 6 feet tall and almost as wide, making this shrub suitable for a bed or border, a woodland or shade garden, or a waterside planting. This results in a lack of chlorophyll, which in turn results in leaves that lose their color and fade. Mature stems have scaly, dark gray to brown black bark. In June and July, sweetspire bears lovely spikes of fragrant, white blossoms. To reverse this problem, it's important to make the soil more acidic. If desired, fertilize in spring with a granular fertilizer formulated for trees and shrubs, like a rose fertilizer. When the pH of the soil creeps above 7.0, Virginia sweetspire is prone to developing chlorosis. less likely to get leggy, bloom better) than the other. Red and Black Chokeberry. Plant summersweet in the spring. Control can be as simple as spraying the leaves (front and back) with water to knock them off, though further intervention with horticultural oils may be needed if mites are persistent. Top reasons to grow Scentlandia sweetspire: - More fragrant than other sweetspire varieties, - Better bud hardiness means better performance in USDA zones 5 and 6, - One of the most shade tolerant flowering shrubs. I'd improve the soil in the new location with an inch or two of compost worked into the loosened top 10 or 12 inches of existing soil. A compact cultivar bearing large clusters of clove-scented white flowers that are irresistible to bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators. It is originally from eastern and southern North America, but grows naturally along the Atlantic coast and west to Texas. 2023 The Taunton Press, Inc. All rights reserved. The scent and flowers are perfect in the garden and the winter interest color is gorgeous. Here's what a colony of Virginia sweetspires should look like when not attacked by fungus or bugs. It prefers moist soils and will tolerate wet conditions. I have clethra in sun here in Georgia and it does fine and flowers heavily. There's no need for cold stratification to germinate. Burning Bush is a plant quite similar to this one, though it is more susceptible to disease and pests. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. If your site already is morning sun and afternoon shade, I'd try digging the plants and replanting into improved soil (see above). It prefers acidic, sandy soil that is moist but will tolerate clay soils, as long as they're amended with organic material, and full shade. In fall, the leaves turn an attractive yellow. To create an idea board, sign in or create an account. When planted right and in the right spot, Clethra, also called summersweet or sweet pepperbush, are very easy to grow. 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. Plant dwarf summersweet cultivars in smaller garden beds to add structural interest and late-summer blooms. I plan to buy at least three more. Water these shrubs quite often when they are young and getting established, then weekly when they mature (one inch per week). Summersweet prefers moist soil and even grows well in areas with standing water. To create an idea board, sign in or create an account. Effective as a hedge. Itea virginica, commonly called Virginia sweetspire, is an erect, rounded, broad-spreading, deciduous shrub with arching branches. Looking forward to hopefully having blooms next year. Sign up for a free trial and get access to ALL our regional content, plus the rest They will tolerate short periods of drought but perform best when they receive regular water. Plant summersweet in an area that receives full sun to part shade. The spires came and went and absolutely no smell at all. What is not to love??? Consider the hours of sunlight you wish your summersweet to receive during its growing season. You could also divide the plants if you'd like during the move. How to Grow and Care for Doublefile Viburnum Shrubs, How to Grow and Care for Black Lace Elderberry, How to Grow and Care for Emerald Gaiety Wintercreeper. Its small size makes it perfect for smaller borders and beds. Stay ahead of any root-suckering that may occur if you do not wish for the bushes to spread. This compact selection reaches 3 to 5 feet tall. Also may be naturalized in cottage gardens, wild gardens or naturalized areas. 1. 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 Size. Some varieties are shorter than average for the species. 3 5 comments Best Add a Comment halfbajan 2 yr. ago Hi there! Had beautiful red 'Sixteen Candles' sweet pepperbush, or summersweet, is a newer cultivar of a popular native shrub. Get complete site access to expert advice, regional content, and more, plus the print magazine. Best Flowering Shrubs for Season-Long Color, The Best Deer Resistant Plants for Your Garden, Attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, Dark brown seed pods (similar in appearance to peppercorns) provide winter interest. Plant Scentlandia itea near a window or outdoor area where you can enjoy its fragrance. A profusion of fragrant white flower spikes attract butterflies. En cliquant sur Accepter , j'accepte l'utilisation des cookies telle qu'elle est dcrite plus en dtail dans la Politique d'Utilisation des Cookies de Houzz. I planted two of the LIttle Henry shrubs in a western exposure that gets afternoon sun and heat. Warmer climates call for more shade. Summersweet spreads slowly by suckering roots and will colonize over time. Garden Uses: Sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia), also called summersweet, is a Maryland native plant found in forested wetlands, floodplains, and swamps. Is blooming and starting to increase in Propagation Take greenwood cuttings in early summer. Two fragrant and vigorous climbing plants for a spectacular With its rich purple blooms, Clematis Etoile Violette' is a Use our interactive toolsto design your dream garden. In landscape design, they are especially effective massed or grouped in sunny or shady flowering shrub borders, butterfly and hummingbird gardens. For a much larger shrub, go with Hollyleaf Sweetspire which can grow up to 12 feet high. Prefers moist, acidic, sandy soil but will also tolerate clay soil if its amended with compost to improve drainage. Plant near a patio to enjoy the fragrant late summer bloom. | Letter from the Editor, Watch Out for New Garden Pests Heading This Way, Designing a Beautiful Back BorderPlanting Plan. The optimum amount of sun or shade each plant needs to thrive: Full Sun (6+ hours), Part Sun (4-6 hours), Full Shade (up to 4 hours). We'll see if they make it. I did and found LOTS of scales up and down the stems. Note this is the default cart. Pruning in the spring risks removing the flower buds. Severe cases can kill the plant. Scentlandia sweetspire delivers on all three! * Required FieldsWe will never sell or distribute your email to any other parties or organizations. All Rights Reserved. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Intensely fragrant, star-shaped florets grow into plump, exotic 2-4" wands that appear on a 4-6' bush for many weeks in mid to late summer. 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. Remove lower leaves on the cuttings, dip the ends in rooting hormone, and tuck into a mixture of half perlite and half potting soil. Attracts butterflies. 'Little Henry' might work. FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: Plants, Design Ideas, Gardening Solutions & More!
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summersweet vs sweetspire