Mine is only a couple of yrs old, which I dug up in the woods, but i planted it in the Spring & kept it watered good until it was established well. Betty

I transplanted one in 2003, and it seemed to be doing fine--Then in January of 2004, a van ran over in and then in September hurricane Ivan hit it, it still had leaves (barely) and then there had been the 3 'floods' in the past 2 weeks, with a hailstorm between the first 2 of those, and it still has leaves! They are a hardy breed, I think! LOL
With the normal care it should do fine!

I have two that I transplanted years ago from the woods when in bloom. They both did just fine. They are in bloom now so i think you can safely transplant the sprout. Just keep it moist but not waterlogged for next month.
By the way did you know they produce seeds? In a hard crusted pod.

Watch your local nurseries and Home Depots for Calycanthus 'Athens,' a green-flowered Sweet Shrub. The HD's have sold them here the past couple of years. This one has an outstanding fragrance. It seems like most of the unnamed ones in the nurseries (I guess seedling plants) mostly have unscented flowers. 'Athens,' though, is incredible!

dave is right. my 'athens' is flowering now and it has a really fine fragrance. so does my regular species but the yellow(or green)-flowered one is unique.

They will root all over your garden if you are not careful.

Thanks so much for this post. Evey year I tell myself I am going to get a plant from my mother but always forget. She has a line of them at the back of her property. My daddy got a sprout from a bush at my grandmother's home in rural Dale County many years ago and planted it. Smelling sweetshrub always brings back memories of my visiting granny in the summertime when I was small.

I am headed out to take mother grocery shopping this morning so I will throw my shovel in the back of my jeep and maybe I won't forget this time.

After reading the message from LoraxDave on the 'Athens' variety, I set out on a quest to find one. Goodness at the trouble I had! I called Arab Nursery - no. I called The Catbird Seat - no. Finally, I came to my senses and called the best garden center in Huntsville - Bennetts. YES!! Not only did they have 'Athens', but they had many of them. They are 3-gallon shrubs and very reasonably priced. I am going today at lunch to get three.

I am also going to transplant the runner from my MIL, so I will have 4 of these delicious shrubs. I think I will put them along my property line, in the filtered shade of a pine tree. I have read that they like somewhat acidic loamy soil, so they should love that.

Thanks, gardeners, for helping so much with my sweetshrub quest!

Thanks from me too. I dug up 8 plants at mother's this morning. I gave 4 to a friend and potted 4 for myself. Now where in the world to plant them.