Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice'
Ruby Spice Summer Sweet
DESCRIPTION
Ruby Spice Summer Sweet
Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice'
- Plant listed for information only. Not currently being sold at Garden Centers
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 hummingbirds
- Many 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.
Map Credit: The Biota of North America
Map Key: Green (native), Teal (native, adventive), Blue (present), Yellow (present & rare), Red (extinct)
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.