Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice'
Ruby Spice Summer Sweet
DESCRIPTION
Ruby Spice Summer SweetClethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice'
Ruby Spice is a color break through with the darkest red flower color of all the summer sweets. The flowers bloom for many weeks in late summer attracting hummingbirds and butterflies. The seed that’s produced later provides food for songbirds and other wildlife. The cool days of autumn bring on the golden yellow fall color. This is an easy to grow, pest and disease resistant shrub with multi-season interest. It grows best in moist, slightly acid sandy soil in sun to light shade, though as a hardy native shrub, it tolerates a range of conditions including shade, acidic wet soil, and salt spray. The color is best in sun. 1998 Gold Medal Plant Award by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Selected by Andy Brand, Broken Arrow Nursery, Connecticut
BENEFITS
Attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirdsMany birds and mammals eat the fruit
Produces loads of fragrant, rosy blooms in late summer
Bright, golden yellow fall color
Tolerates shade, acidic wet soil, and salt spray
Easy to grow, deer resistant
NATIVE INFO
Native Range
Found in swamps, sea shores, stream banks and hillside bogs.
Interesting Facts
Remarkably, frogs actually use their eyes to help them swallow food. When the frog blinks, its eyeballs are pushed downwards creating a bulge in the roof of its mouth. This bulge squeezes the food inside the frog's mouth down the back of its throat.
GROWING TIPS
It grows best in moist, slightly acid sandy soil in sun to light shade, though as a hardy native shrub, it tolerates a range of conditions including shade, acidic wet soil, and salt spray. The color is best in sun.