Virginia sweetspire is an easy - care , native bush that offers fragrant flowers in give and superb burgundy drop colour .
With its fragrant spring peak and blazing declivity foliage that often hang in well into wintertime , Virginia sweetspire(Itea virginica)makes a okay addition to almost any garden . This aboriginal deciduous shrub is as versatile as it is attractive , easily fitting into many landscape niche : Its gracefully arching stem fill the distance beneath tall bush orsmall tree . It ’s at domicile in either Sunday or nuance , so it is an excellent alternative for a transition between timber and gay garden . It ’s fine with wet filth conditions , so it’sa born for rain gardensor alongside a pool , and it is majuscule on a moist slope for controlling eating away because it spread via chump ,
This undemanding bush require little in the manner of care . It has few problem and postulate minimum pruning other than removing gull if you want to restrict its cattle ranch . In addition , it attracts many pollinators , including bees , butterfly , and hummingbird , and provides seed and a nesting habitat for birds .
Credit: Denny Schrock
Where to Plant Virginia Sweetspire
Virginia sweetspire is aboriginal to the mid - Atlantic and southeast U.S. , where it raise unfounded along stream banks and in wet woodlands . It get practiced in moist - to - wetsoil fat in organic issue , although it tolerates average grime , and once establish , it suffer drought . While it blooms considerably and unremarkably originate the strongest autumn color in gay spots , it can grow in the shade .
A mass planting of this shrub can be spectacular and is unremarkably preferable to individual works . It spreads by suckers to make slow settlement , which can be used as a barrier . It is also utile on banks to control erosion . all-day sucker are easy to slay where they are not want .
How and When to Plant Virginia Sweetspire
A container - grow Virginia sweetspire can be plant almost any time , but give or drop are best . Fall is also the right time todivide suckers to amplify a planting .
To plant Virginia sweetspire , pick out a site that can be keep moist while the shrub becomes established . Allow 4 to 6 feet of space between plants . cut into a fix twice as wide and about the same deepness as the shrub ’s root chunk . place the root Lucille Ball in the pickle so that it is at the same depth as it was uprise in the container . Backfill the hole around the ascendent ball with the soil withdraw when you dug the hole and weewee thoroughly . extend the area with about 3 inches of organic mulch to help asseverate even grunge moisture .
Virginia Sweetspire Care Tips
Virginia sweetspire is an extraordinarily low - maintenance and well-fixed - to - grow shrub . It ’s also adaptable to a wide range of condition . If you grow it where it can spread or where its bedcover is limited by a barrier such as a driveway or pavement , you could unremarkably have it have its own way to satisfy in the space allotted . If you involve to limit its facing pages , remove unwanted suckers as they appear .
Light
Virginia sweetspiregrows best in full sun(6 hours or more of lineal sun ) , where it create maximum prime and vivid free fall leaf vividness . It also turn in partial or full specter , but the bush may be less dense with reduced flowering , and the fall color will be less spectacular .
Soil and Water
The idealistic soil for Virginia sweetspire is somewhatmoist but well - drainedand gamey in organic affair . However , it adapts to most soil conditions as long as it is go on moist through its first growing time of year ; it will tolerate poor full point of drouth once established . This shrub can grow in soil that are occasionally cockeyed , such as a pelting garden or the bank of a pond . A good rule of ovolo is to leave an inch of urine per week . A 3- to 4 - inch bed of mulch will help maintain even soil moisture .
Temperature and Humidity
In the cold parts of its range , wintertime temperature may make some branches to suffer dieback . damage stems can be off in the spring . The bush is semi - evergreen and will keep its leaf until the temperature drop to 20 ° F or lower . In fond regions , the bush prefers temperatures between 40 ° and 95 ° fluorine . It handles high heat well as long as it incur plenty of water . Some shade andmulchingare good to prevent the soil from drying out . Virginia sweetspire prefers a moist , humid environment , although it tolerates drouth after it is found .
Fertilizer
Pruning
The born arching habit of the branches is beautiful and does not require pruning unless the bush has suffered some wintertime dieback . In that case , remove drained stems back to a tidy bud or stem . Pruning suckers to prevent unwanted bed covering should be done whenever they look . Cut the underground dower of the sucker and take away it .
Potting and Repotting
you may grow this bush in acontainer with good drainagefor one season , after which you should institute it in the landscape . apply a high - timber potting mix and keep the Virginia sweetspire well watered . Rooted cuttings or sucker can acquire in a container until they break rich root system of rules ( normally within one season ) . No repotting is necessary .
Pests and Problems
Virginia sweetspire has few pests , althoughflea beetlesmay occasionally visit a plant . If they are legion , spray them withneem crude oil . Leaf spots make by a fungusare sometimes observed but rarely require treatment .
How to Propagate Virginia Sweetspire
The easiest way to start raw plant life of Virginia sweetspire is to remove rootle mark in the crepuscule and set them in an domain that can be kept incessantly moist until a robust root system is lay down . These will be quick to plant in the landscape painting the following spring .
Stem cuttingscan also be taken from May to September and grown in good - caliber potting soil , where they will take root in about four weeks , even without rooting hormone . Keep cuttings equally moist and develop them in a sheltered fix for several calendar month before planting them in the landscape .
Types of Virginia Sweetspire
‘Henry’s Garnet’
Itea virginica’Henry ’s Garnet ' prefers a medium to blind drunk environment . It develop 3 to 5 foot tall and spreads from 4 to 6 feet . It yield 6 - inch - long flag white blossom clump in late spring to former summer and has brilliant crimson - purple fall foliage that makes it a standout in the landscape painting . geographical zone 5–9
‘Merlot’
A compact cultivar that grows 3 to 4 feet tall , Itea virginica’Merlot ' is compensate in panicles of fragrant blank bloom that attract butterfly stroke and other pollinators in summer . The deep wine - red decline foliage often die hard well into winter . Zones 5–9
‘Sprich’
Itea virginica’Sprich ' , also experience as Little Henry , is a dwarf variety of Virginia sweetspire that grows only 2 to 3 feet tall and wide . Like the larger cultivars , it is covered in racemes of midget white fragrant flowers in summer , and its downfall foliage color ranges from lustrous orangeness to red . Zones 5–9
‘Scentlandia’
Itea virginica’Scentlandia ' has the most fragrant white heyday of the Virginia sweetspire shrubs . It is also more cold - tolerant , so it often excels in Zone 5 . It is another compendious change that grows to 3 feet improbable and wide and has fall foliage in shades of red and orange . Zones 5–9
‘Sarah’s Eve’
Itea virginica’Sarah ’s Eve ' has white peak petal withstand on pink pedicel ( blossom stem ) , so the fragrant flower appear subdued pink . Its dark green leave are often flush with purple and rick shades of imperial , orangish , and atomic number 79 in the fall . ' Sarah ’s Eve ' maturate 4 to 6 foundation tall and wide . zone 5–9
Virginia Sweetspire Companion Plants
Plants that boom in moist shade unite well with Virginia sweetspire .
Foamflower(Tiarellaspp . ) is a pop shade garden plant life and forest native . It blooms in springiness and early summertime with blossoms in wraith of pink and white that last up to six weeks . After the flowering season ends , its coloured fleeceable foliage forms an attractive backcloth for other florescence plant life .
Black Chokeberry
Dean Schoeppner
Black chokeberry(Aronia melanocarpa ) can hold out wet conditions and grow in rain gardens and along stream beds . Their spring blooms are blanched with pinkish stamen , and their green foliage turns to a brilliant red - to - burgundy fall color presentation .
Coral Bells
gloomy - maintenancecoral bells(Heucheraspp . ) amount in a rainbow of colors . These perennials thrive in woodland locations as long as they have well - draining — not soggy — soil . They attract skirt and pollinator , and the blooms are lovely in cut - flower organisation .
Wild Ginger
Low - growing unfounded ginger(Asarumspp . ) expand in moist , shady places . This exuberant ground cover spreads by rhizomes . unfounded ginger is n’t related to culinary pep . It is grown primarily for its foliage , although it has small prime in several color , including brown , purple , yellow , and blanched , that pull pollinators .
Frequently Asked Questions
In the southerly part of its range , this bush often keep on its leave well into winter and is considered a semi - evergreen . In most areas where it rise , it is deciduous .
Deer seldom browse on Virginia sweetspire — it is moot fairly deer repellent — although if deer are hungry enough , they ’ll eat almost any plant .
Credit: Ian Adams
Credit:Dean Schoeppner
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
Credit: Justin Hancock
