Go native ! essay Clethra alnifolia . We all appreciate plant that provide both ravisher ( signifier ) and utility program ( function ) in the landscape painting design . Clethra alnifoliais one such plant that provides both . Its graceful material body , sullen green foliage , fragrance , and generous flowered displays keep the ornamental garden looking fresh and receive in the summertime months . As a native species , it functions as an splendid source of nectar and seeds for a form of wildlife .
The nameClethratranslates from the Greek word for Alder , which is a type of tree . Alnifoliatranslates as “ Alder - foliaged , ” because the leaves bear a timid resemblance to the leaves of the genusAlnus . Clethragoes by several common names , admit sweet pepperbush , hummingbird plant , coastal sweet-smelling pepperbush , white alder , summersweetClethra , or just simply summersweet . I prefer the last option — summersweet . Is that a capital name for a industrial plant or what ? Just as its name paint a picture , it flower in summertime and it has a gamey , sweet fragrance .
verbal description
Form – Summersweet is a small to medium sizing , deciduous , suckering or settlement - shape vertical shrub . depend on the cultivar , it typically ranges in sizing from three - to - eight feet grandiloquent .
Function – This shrub is utilitarian as a single specimen in the ornamental garden . It is as as attractive when planted as a group , a hedge , a basis planting or as part of a naturalised landscape painting . This native species can be found in every land on the east coast from Maine to Florida and as far southwest as Texas . It bring home the bacon nectar for hummingbirds , bee and butterfly stroke in the summertime and seeds for birds in the winter . As an aside , theC. alnifoliaspecies may ply more ambrosia for pollinators than the cultivars . Deer and other four - footed plague appear not to have any interest in this plant .
foliation – Although late to leaf out in spring , the medium textured , obscure light-green foliage is very attractive . The serrated folio are two – to – three inches long , elongated to ovate in shape , and arranged in an alternating pattern along the leg . In fall , the foliage turn favorable jaundiced .
Flowers – The flashy , fragrant flowers bloom on current twelvemonth ’s growth and are order in bottlebrush - alike racemes at the tips of branch . The blossoms on theC. alnifoliaspecies are white . However , a mates of cultivar have attractive pinkish flower . After the bush finishes flowering , it develops delicate , one - 8th inch , non - gaudy ejaculate fuel pod , which resemble peppercorns . As you might reckon , this is the plant characteristic that prompted the name “ sweet pepperbush . ”
CARE AND MAINTENANCE
Although slow growing , summersweet is easy to grow in average or pissed grime that are systematically moist and acidulous . Despite its preference for moist soil , this versatile plant is jolly drought resistant once it is established in the landscape . While it opt full shade , it will tolerate everything from full sun to full refinement . You ca n’t get any more flexible than that . I ’ve had good luck growing it in full Lord’s Day in the morning and shade in the good afternoon . A generous stratum of mulch over the root zona help oneself keep the stain cool and moist .
Good filth provision is key to making this shrub glad . Dig a hole that is three – to – four prison term as wide as the ascendent ball , but only as deep as the source ball . Spread out the root in the hole , fill in the soil over the roots , and body of water in well . cross with two – to – four inches of mulch to hold a steady moisture level while the plant life is getting found .
Other than an occasional pruning , this bush requires piffling in the style of maintenance . Prune in recent wintertime or early springtime before prime buds form . Cut out any discredited or dead subdivision at ground level . If you ’re not sure whether a branch is dead , try clipping off the tip . If you see clean woodwind instrument at bottom , the branch is still alive . To insure the overall size of the bush , prune about one - third of the longest stem back to the ground but do so randomly so that the shrub retains a natural look .
Summersweet can be easy broadcast from stem cuttings in other summer or from source that is plant in either fountain or fall . If you are disperse from stem cuttings , take three - to - four in long fore cuttings in the assuredness of the twenty-four hours from well - watered plants . Cuttings rooted in other summer have a good propagation success rate than cuttings started later in the summer . For those of us who care a challenge , harvest the ripe , brownish source capsules of the species and plant in the fall or natural spring .
Summersweet spreads by root suckering , but because it circularize slowly , it can be easily managed . Just remove the suckers with clipper or loppers .
pest rarely bother this plant . now and then , they may meet an infestation of spider touch . However , if the works is observe well hydrated , wanderer mites tend to leave it alone .
CULTIVARS AND OTHER CLETHRA SPECIES
In addition to the aboriginal specie , a number ofC. alnifoliacultivars may be institute at garden centers , including :
In addition toC. alnifoliaand its cultivar , you may possibly receive two other aboriginal species ofClethrain garden centers : C. tomentosaandC. acuminate .
Several other coinage ofClethraexist in other part of the world , but they are generally not farm in this body politic .
RESOURCES
American Horticultural Society , A - Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants , 2004 .
American Horticultural Society , Plant Propagation , 1999 .
Dirr , Michael A.,Dirr ’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs , 1997 .
Millichamp , Larry , Native Plants of the Southeast , 2014 .
United States Department of Agriculture Plants Database , http://plants.usda.gov .
Virginia Cooperative Extension Publication 450 - 236 , Problem - Free Shrubs for Virginia Landscapes , ( http://pubs.ext.vt.edu ) .
Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation Native Plants Database , http://www.dcr.virginia.gov .
