Planted white flowered 'Hummingbird' in spring 2007 on either end of the berm and added pink flowered 'Ruby Spice' on each end in 2012.
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| 7/22/2010. 'Ruby Spice' |
Also called Sweet Pepperbush. The scent in bloom is delightful, a very tantalizing smell on the breeze as you walk by in mid summer.
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| 7/27/2010. 'Hummingbird' has white spikes |
Keep these moist. Prune for shape in spring. Regular pruning creates a bushier, fuller plant v. leggy bare bottomed plant. Suckering is more prevalent in moist soils, almost nonexistent on drier soils.
'Hummingbird' is low and has a little bit of a spreading habit. 'Ruby Spice' is taller and upright.
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| 8/6/12 |
They are
very late to wake in spring, and look like rubble well into May. Really, you have to love the summer look and sweet fragrance of this plant, and its nice fall foliage, to want it in your garden. Because spring is just awful.
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5/11/14
Don't despair, this is what clethra looks like until Memorial Day!! |
The best season is mid summer when clethra smells so spicy and fragrant, and the flower spikes are pretty. In fall the color can be a hot bright yellow, very noticeable from a distance.
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| 10/21/12 |
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8/6/13 'Hummingbird' in the foreground is small and low.
Pink 'Ruby Spice' is in the background. |
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| 8/6/13 "Ruby Spice' stands up taller, more rounded |
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| 10/5/13 'Ruby Spice' just beginning to color. This plant has become a nice rounded shape. |
Oddly, in 2015 'Ruby Spice' did not bloom at all. It couldn't have been winterkill because clethra blooms on new wood. It just didn't bloom.
'Hummingbird' did flower nicely. Go figure.
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| 8/6/15 |
