Calycanthus floridus - Sweetshrub

Calycanthus floridus, also known as the Anemone Tree, Pompadour Tree or Strawberry Shrub, is a bush native to the United States that deserves to be known. It produces a unique flowering in May-June, with flowers resembling water lilies, in a beautiful red-brown colour. The solitary flowers sit on the foliage as if placed there, and emit a pleasant strawberry fragrance. This graceful deciduous shrub has medium size and fresh green leaves. It can be planted in flower beds, free hedges, or as a special specimen in a small garden. Being hardy, it thrives in cool, deep, well-drained, fertile, and non-calcareous soil, in a sunny location.

Calycanthus floridus is a deciduous shrub belonging to the Calycanthaceae family. This botanical species is native to the eastern coast of the United States and was introduced to Europe in 1806. It forms a loose, bushy shrub and reaches 2 m (6.6 ft) to 2.50 m (8.2 ft) in all directions, at maturity, which is around 5-6 years old. Its slightly rigid branches bear leaves that are medium green, 7 cm to 13 cm (2.8 in to 5.1 in) long, ovate, slightly hairy, shiny on the upper side, and lighter on the underside. They turn yellow, amber, and orange in autumn before falling off. Flowering occurs in May-June. The unique flowers, shaped like cups, are composed of a corolla with wide, burgundy-red petals and distinct, lancet-shaped petaloid sepals arranged in spirals. The flower's centre is occupied by purple stamens. The fragrance of the flowers evokes strawberries, mangoes, and pineapples, with a spicy note, according to observers. The fruits resemble small elongated hazelnuts and are contained in curious small, hairy brown pouches. The seeds are toxic and should be kept away from children and animals.

Calycanthus is also called "Anemone Trees" because the shape and size of the flowers resemble those of these lovely shade perennials. However, the fragrance is completely different; it actually smells like strawberries, hence the English name "Strawberry shrub". Florida Calycanthus prefers rich and well-drained soil, especially in winter, in a sunny location. Protect it from cold winds. It needs summer heat to flower and lignify. It can be used, according to each gardener's desires and the available space, as a stand-alone specimen, in a free and rustic hedge, or in a large flower bed mixing perennials and small bushes. You can fully enjoy the fragrance and beauty of the flowers, which are not very large and have a somewhat muted colour, near a pathway or not far from a terrace. To accompany it, you can choose, for example, variegated dogwood 'Elegantissima', shrub peonies, a pheasant tree, a golden ninebark, or a Neillia affinis.

Tips: Be careful, the seeds produced by Calycanthus are toxic to cattle and sheep! Do not plant it in hedges near pastures.