Carolina allspice

Sun

Full sun to partial shade; afternoon shade is useful in hot climates. Plants grow more openly and flower less in deeper shade.

Water

Keep the soil evenly moist while establishing. Once established, water deeply during prolonged dry spells; avoid waterlogged ground.

Soil

Moist, well-drained soil enriched with organic matter; tolerates clay and a range of soil pH levels.

Height

6-9 ft (1.8-2.7 m)

Spread

6-12 ft (1.8-3.7 m), potentially wider through suckering

Flowers

Late spring to early summer, sometimes with scattered later flowers; deep reddish-brown to maroon, with narrow, strap-shaped petals.

Foliage

Opposite, oval, dark green leaves with paler, often softly hairy undersides; aromatic when crushed and usually yellow in autumn.

Growth

Moderate

Care needed

Low

• Pollinators
• Deer resistant
• Cold hardy
• Heat tolerant
• Disease resistant
• Wildlife
• Low allergen
• Fragrant

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Easy

Toughness

Very tough

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   1.6 ft (0.5 m)

2. After 1 year

   2.8 ft (0.85 m)

3. After 2 years

   4 ft (1.2 m)

4. After 3 years

   5 ft (1.6 m)

5. After 5 years

   7 ft (2.3 m)

   full size

About 5 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Toxic

Native to

the US

In the garden

Spreads vigorously: plan to contain it.

Growth rate

Moderate

• Water deeply during the first two growing seasons whenever the root zone starts to dry.
• Apply 2-3 in (5-8 cm) of organic mulch, keeping it clear of the stems.
• Top-dress with compost in spring; routine fertiliser is unnecessary in reasonably fertile soil.
• Remove unwanted suckers at their point of origin to keep the shrub within its allotted space.
• Give it room to develop naturally rather than repeatedly clipping it into a tight shape.

Pruning. Prune immediately after flowering, removing dead or crossing stems and shortening branches only where needed. To renew an older shrub, cut a few of the oldest stems to ground level each year rather than shearing the whole plant.

Early spring

Plant while dormant where the ground is workable, water thoroughly and mulch.

Spring

Top-dress established plants with compost and remove any winter-damaged wood.

Late spring

Check flower fragrance before choosing a new plant; scent differs between seedlings.

Early summer

Prune after the main flowering period and remove unwanted suckers.

Summer

Water during extended dry weather, especially young plants and those in full sun.

Autumn

Plant in mild regions while the soil is still warm, and refresh mulch before winter.

• Place beside a path or seating area where a fragrant specimen's flowers can be smelled at close range.
• Use in a mixed shrub border with spring-flowering shrubs and shade-tolerant perennials.
• Plant along a woodland edge, allowing its broad, informal shape to develop.
• Allow suckering in a roomy informal screen or native shrub planting.

Garden styles it suits: Woodland, Sensory garden, Southern, Cottage garden, Wildlife garden and Traditional.

Plant it with: Oakleaf hydrangea, Virginia sweetspire, Summersweet, Christmas fern, Foamflower and Solomon's seal.

Wildlife: The flowers are pollinated mainly by small beetles. A mature shrub or colony provides shelter for birds and other small wildlife; deer often leave the aromatic foliage alone, though browsing is still possible.

• Unwanted suckering: remove shoots at their origin, or allow a wider planting area where a colony is welcome.
• Few flowers: move to a brighter position if heavily shaded, and avoid pruning before flowering.
• Leaf scorch or wilting in hot, dry weather: water deeply, mulch and provide afternoon shade in hot regions.
• Root decline in persistently wet soil: improve drainage or replant on higher ground; do not keep the root zone saturated.

Not edible and not a substitute for culinary allspice. Seeds contain poisonous alkaloids, including calycanthine, and bark and other parts should also not be eaten. Ingestion can cause serious poisoning, including seizures; keep seeds away from children, cats, dogs and horses, although species-specific information for pets is limited.

• California sweetshrub (Calycanthus occidentalis)

  Usually has larger leaves and larger, more openly shaped red flowers; flower scent is often less pleasant than that of fragrant Carolina allspice plants.

• Chinese sweetshrub (Calycanthus chinensis)

  Has much larger, broad-petalled white to pale pink flowers with contrasting yellow inner parts, rather than narrow maroon petals.

• Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox)

  Flowers on bare stems in winter, with small translucent yellow blooms often marked purple inside.

Calycanthus comes from Greek words for calyx and flower, floridus means flowering or floriferous, and Carolina allspice refers to its southeastern US origins and spicy aroma.

Propagation. Separate rooted suckers while dormant, or take softwood cuttings in early summer. Seed can be sown fresh or given a cold, moist period before spring sowing; seedlings vary in flower fragrance and other traits.

Accepted botanical name

Calycanthus floridus

In the US and Canada

Native in the lower 48 states.

Native range

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

Measured

Average height 220 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.