Itea or not!

16 years ago

I have been debating whether or not I want the Itea Little Henry. I have the Clethra so I am not interested in the iteas'flowers. If I were to get it, it would be for the fall color. I have the Lady in Red, Highbush Blueray/Reka blueberry, summerwine, fothergillia, red chokebery, mariesii viburnum, oakleaf hydrengea, gold flame spirea, kwanzan cherry, higans cherry, wine and roses. I see the itea like I do the burning bush. It is just for fall show, at least here in southern maine. The question is, will itea really survive the winters here and will the shubs that I already have rival it. In other words, I am missing anything by not getting it. I had the same feeling when my new stressed serviceberry disappointed me and was replaced by the red chokeberry which I think will rival it in many ways. Thoughts???

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Comments (4)

artdeco
16 years ago
I've got both Henry's Garnet & Little Henry, can't tell the difference between them, and agree the fall color is the only reason to have them.
A good feature is the leaves stay attached & retain their colors sometimes past January, long after the other shrubs have dropped & are only showing bare branches.
However, they are very, very late to leaf-out in the spring so they look dead for quite awhile.
Some winters I do get alot of die-back, and recently some are starting to look iron deficient, although other acid-lovers nearby look great. I think they need more sun, but they also need moist soil.
They sucker easily, so don't plant too close to anything delicate. Only buy one plant cuz soon you'll have many more.
And they're walnut/juglone tolerant.
In my opinion, they're a satisfactory choice for a difficult spot.
WendyB 5A/MA
16 years ago
If the flowers are of some interest, they do bloom much earlier than Clethra. And, yes, the fall color hangs on a long time. Ditto, I get some winter dieback, but, that has been a good thing. Keeps the size in check.

I've had both I. 'Little Henry' and C. 'Hummingbird' for several years now. If I had to pick one, it would be Hummingbird for the incredible fragrance. Its just now near the end and I will miss it greatly.

Sounds like you have plenty of good fall color shrubs already.

Also if you are near the coast, your winters may be milder than mine. I am 50 miles inland much south of you.
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whaas_5a
16 years ago
Henry's Garnet is touted to be more hardy than Little Henry.

I planted Garnet...so we'll see. An unbelievable amount of people have reported severe dieback of Little Henry in zone 5...with a large amount losing the plant.
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
16 years ago
Little Henry did not survive for me here in central NH. It just got progressively smaller each spring until I finally shovel pruned it after 3 seasons. At UNH in Durham, which is on the coast, there are thriving Itea, but I think that they are a bigger variety than LH which tends to look densely twiggy in my experience. The UNH ones have more length between leaf nodes than my LH had. I wouldn't recommend LH, but if you have room for a taller Itea, you might want to consider one of them.