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FREE: Sweet Shrub Seeds

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Description

The listing, Sweet Shrub Seeds has ended.

Sweet Shrub seeds from a bush in Williamsburg, Virginia.

The twigs of this shrub smell amazing when broken, but the best part of this maroon flowering shrub for me is are the way cool seed pods. I string the seeds up for necklaces and garlands.

This is a well-mannered ornamental small shrub and a delight to grow. I will send several seeds.

Questions & Comments

Scientific Name
Calycanthus floridus

Common Name
Sweet shrub; Sweet Betsy, Carolina allspice
Hardiness Zones: 4-9
Habit: Deciduous
Exposure: Sun to partial shade; range of soil types
Height: 6 to 9'
Flower/Fruit: Maroon to dark rusty brown flowers with a variable fragrance (strong to none)
Comments: Yellow fall foliage; stems and leaves are fragrant; can colonize to form a clump; care free plant

Mar 17th, 2012 at 7:14:59 AM PDT by

Sweet Shrub will thrive in indirect or dappled sunlight or partial shade. It prefers low salinity, loamy, moist soil with excellent drainage. However, Sweet Shrub is adaptable and low-maintenance and has been known to thrive even in less-than-ideal conditions. Sweet Shrub is most commonly obtained as a young plant or from cuttings, and can also be grown from seeds.

Mar 17th, 2012 at 7:16:42 AM PDT by

Sweet Shrub is very disease- and pest-resistant, and has few requirements for care. Pruning after the first season can control growth and improve air circulation to the innermost parts of the shrub. Rather than pruning away just the tips of the branches, which will encourage the shrub to grow in even bushier than before, prune back older limbs to the ground, which will encourage new growth to form. Also it can be helpful to know that Sweet Shrub will grow taller if planted in a shadier area, so pruning may need to be done more often. Sweet Shrub will also produce shoots or suckers that may need to be controlled or pruned away if planted in an area where carefully controlled growth is desired. Sweet Shrub will grow slowly and can tolerate low moisture conditions, so plants should be watered and fertilized only as necessary after planting

Seed is poisonous if ingested
Parts of plant are poisonous if ingested

Mar 17th, 2012 at 7:29:49 AM PDT by

Sweet Shrub is native to the Appalachian stream banks of the Smokies, where it is also known as Carolina Allspice, Strawberry Bush, Sweet Shade, and Bubby Blossom. Women used to place the flowers in their bodices as a perfume, hence the name "Bubby Blossom". Sweet shrub was once commonly found as an ornamental around colonial homes, especially south of the Mason-Dixon line. Several large bushes can fill a small yard with the combined fragrance of strawberry, cantaloupe, spiced apple, and burgundy wine. Sweet shrub has a distinctive maroon-red flower about 2" across. It is pollinated by small beetles that were the first pollinators of flowering plants, long before bees and flies appeared on the scene. When the flower first opens it has the fragrance of spiced apples as it opens over a period of 7 to 10 days. Flowers first appear in mid-March with a flush of flowers in April, and a trailing out through May. Even the leaves are fragrant when rubbed, and in the fall they turn a sunny yellow. In colonial times the cinnamon-flavored bark was used as a seasoning. Sweet shrubs are ideal for planting close to the house near a window where the fragrance may drift indoors. Plant additional plants by a favorite path or sitting area. Will flower splendidly in full sun, but is best adapted to light shade. Flowers in 2 to 3 years from seed. Medicinal: Useful for damp spleen. An excellent herb for moving stagnant chi. The leaves, twigs, and buds have diaphoretic properties.

Mar 17th, 2012 at 7:33:37 AM PDT by

Can it be grown indoors?And what a lot of work you did to give us all that information thankyou fanned and watching

Mar 17th, 2012 at 8:01:51 PM PDT by

you know, i have no clue about that lol. getting them to germinate can be tough it seems, but once they are growing they seem really hardy. I did find a reference to sprouting them after putting them in the freezer in a milk carton, but i find mixed reviews on growing them. Since they handle temps from ohio to mid florida i'd assume they could take a well lit room?
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Mar 17th, 2012 at 9:06:03 PM PDT by

Way to cool do neat to try this plant up north fanned and biding

Mar 18th, 2012 at 9:25:30 AM PDT by

There is actually a bush that grows in California and other places called the Strawberry Bush. It's Arbutus Unedo (I think that's the spelling) It actually gets these little fruits that look like strawberries, they get soft when ripe, taste kind of like strawberries, and are used in history to make wine. You wouldn't have one of them would you?? Would you be interested in seeds?? I think I can get some locally here in Northern California.

Mar 18th, 2012 at 8:38:50 PM PDT by

I have eaten them! There was one plant in the colonial nursery at Williamsburg the gardener used to let me visit. They seemed anticlimatic in flavoring, but the plant was SOOO COOL! I never was able to collect seeds from it, as it was the only one in town and in the official colonial garden. I would be very interested in those seeds...

Mar 18th, 2012 at 9:06:54 PM PDT by

BTW. This looks like a fabulous plant. I believe all plants in my garden should be edible, Fragrant or exceptionally beautiful. Of course all the others create oxygen. LOL.
Can you send all of this technical information when you send the seeds??

Mar 18th, 2012 at 8:40:23 PM PDT by

I will send what I can :) I didn't buy these I collected them, so I don't have an actual write up more than verbal teachings from williamsburg and research

Mar 20th, 2012 at 4:48:57 PM PDT by

I may be completely outbid...Ever do any trading?

Mar 19th, 2012 at 7:39:57 PM PDT by

I would trade for those strawberry bush seeds, sure!

Mar 20th, 2012 at 4:49:50 PM PDT by

Will you be listing more of these?? I'm still building my vegetable garden and the fancy stuff is a fetish. LOL. Haave to have priorities.....

Mar 19th, 2012 at 8:26:49 PM PDT by

and i will see how many seeds i have and i will try and post more :)

Mar 20th, 2012 at 4:50:20 PM PDT by

could you send a cutting for shipping fee?

Mar 20th, 2012 at 6:31:25 PM PDT by

Sadly I do not currently have access to a living bush this season. I moved from Virginia to Ohio and a lot of my plants really didn't take too well to that sudden move and temp change. I have lots of seeds though. I intend go down a few times a year to visit family though and probably could grab a few cuttings when I do. I am so sad I no longer have a yard with all my pants. I just have all the seeds and a few pots that survived. I am waiting to restart my life and collection....and a 12 ft by 10 ft clay shady courtyard to work with. A lot of my plants will have to live on though all of you :)

Mar 21st, 2012 at 6:49:04 AM PDT by

I will definitely get ahold of those seeds. Whaat else are you interested in. I'd love to have some of those seeds this season. I don't think I can get the Arbutus seeds until late summer/fall. I don't want to wait that long. :-(

Mar 20th, 2012 at 10:31:10 PM PDT by

Could you send a cutting (Just a smelly stick)In a SASE so we can smell what we're bidding on????? HMM?

Mar 20th, 2012 at 10:48:40 PM PDT by

They seem to only smell when you first break them. It is a bummer it is one of my favorite smells. Deanna, I may be able to track down an ohio shrub called spicebush, lindera benzion, which can be used as an allspice substitute. It is strong and smells great. That's probably the best cutting I can get you until I visit virginia, but I will also try and grab seeds for it this fall when they come out if you think you may be interested :)

Mar 21st, 2012 at 6:51:35 AM PDT by

How big are the seed pods??

Mar 20th, 2012 at 10:51:38 PM PDT by

some are tiny, maybe an inch and a half, some are 3 inches. I empty the seeds, fill them with tiny pebbles, glue them back together, bunch several together, and add a wooden handle and they make such cool rattles!!

Mar 21st, 2012 at 6:53:37 AM PDT by

I'm so sorry. Bid the wrong thing on the wrong thing. Now can't bid more here. DARN!! These are wonderful and hope you list others....
Thank you!

Mar 21st, 2012 at 1:31:56 AM PDT by

This is out of my current budget (I'm brand new here,, and on a fixed income that doesn't come in until the 1st), but having started by looking at your MG seeds, and now having read over ALL of them (!!!) have fanned you. Starting over is never easy, but its often just what we need (usually when its the least wanted!). And its GREAT to find another seed-conservator and herbalist here!

Mar 21st, 2012 at 4:07:05 PM PDT by

I will see if i can post more

Mar 21st, 2012 at 7:59:34 PM PDT by

Sweet Shrub Seeds is in the Home & Garden | Gardening | Gardening Seeds & Bulbs category