Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice'
Summersweet 'Ruby Spice'
Clethra can be deciduous or evergreen, trees or shrubs. They have simple leaves, sometimes have attractive bark, and they bear clusters of small. fragrant, bell-shaped flowers - usually white, and looking like bottle-brushes. ‘Ruby Spice' has a bushy habit, and bears bottlebrush-like, clove-scented, rose-pink flowers in late Summer and early Autumn. The flowers are highly attractive to butterflies and other pollinating insects.
Contributed by @rvasun
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Partial shade to deep shade
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Occasional watering
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Full Frost Hardy: 5F (-15°C)
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Moist and free draining
Common name
Summersweet 'Ruby Spice'
Latin name
Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice'
type
Trees or Shrubs
family
Clethraceae
ph
5.0 - 6.5 Acid - Neutral
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Light
Partial shade to deep shade
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Frost
Full Frost Hardy: 5F (-15°C)
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Soil
Moist and free draining
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Water
Occasional watering
Plant & bloom calendar
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Best time to plant
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When the plant will bloom
full grown dimensions
1.50 M
1.50 M
Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice'
Clethra can be deciduous or evergreen, trees or shrubs. They have simple leaves, sometimes have attractive bark, and they bear clusters of small. fragrant, bell-shaped flowers - usually white, and looking like bottle-brushes. ‘Ruby Spice' has a bushy habit, and bears bottlebrush-like, clove-scented, rose-pink flowers in late Summer and early Autumn. The flowers are highly attractive to butterflies and other pollinating insects.
Flowering
From Mid Summer TO Late Spring
Clethra bears its bottle-brush like blooms from mid Summer for 4-6 weeks.
Planting
From Early Spring TO Mid Spring
Plant Clethra in moist but free-draining acidic soil in a sheltered spot that is in shade or partial shade.
Propagating by cuttings
From Late Spring TO Early Summer
Take softwood cuttings from new growth early in the day in Spring or early Summer. Cut, neatly, a 4" approx. piece of a non-flowering shoot, pinch out the tip, and cut off the bottom leaves. Dip the bottom of the cutting in hormone rooting powder, and carefully place in a pot of cutting compost with the leaves just above the level of the compost. Water, label, cover with a polythene bag, and place in a warm, bright place, out of direct sunlight. Take the polythene bag off periodically for a while for ventilation (at least twice a week)
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