Calycanthus floridus ‘Michael Lindsey’ (Carolina Allspice)

Valued for the sweet, fruity fragrance of its flowers, Calycanthus floridus ‘Michael Lindsey’ (Carolina Allspice) is a compact, dense, rounded, well-branched deciduous shrub that is regarded as one of the best cultivars of Carolina Allspices. Exceptionally fragrant, with scents of fruit and spice, reddish-brown flowers, 2 in. wide (5 cm), somewhat resembling magnolia blossoms, are produced in abundance at the ends of short branchlets in late spring – early summer before giving way to urn-shaped fruits which mature to brown in fall and persist throughout the winter. The lustrous foliage of dark green oval leaves, with gracefully and elegantly pointed tips and lighter gray-green underside, consistently turns an attractive golden-yellow in fall.

• This multi-stemmed shrub grows up to 6-10 ft. tall and wide (180-300 cm). Will grow at a moderate rate under ideal growing conditions of deep, moist, loamy soil and with partial shade. The growth rate will be much slower in dry soil and full sun.
• Sweetshrub tends to spread by growing new shoots (suckers) along the outer edges of the clump. Remove root suckers promptly if naturalization is not desired.
• Winner of the Gold Medal Award of The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
• A full sun or part shade lover, this plant is best grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soils. Tolerates a wide range of soils, including clay soils, but prefers rich loams. Tolerates deeper shade but will not grow as well or flower as heavily. Plants grown in full sun will be shorter than those grown in part shade.
• Perfect as a specimen plant or in shrub borders, foundation plantings, woodlands, or naturalized areas. Plant it where you can enjoy its perfume daily: near a doorway, along a path, near your patio or deck. Flowers are long-lasting on the shrub and also make good cut flowers. They can also be dried and added to potpourri.
• No serious insect or disease problems. Deer resistant!
• Prune after flowering to shape or maintain compactness.
• Plants can be propagated by seed, but seedlings may differ from the parent plant in fragrance and other characteristics. Sweetshrub is easy to transplant, ideally during the fall or winter after leaf fall.