You know I am the guy that always chimes in that not all of these guys are fragrant, well my clump turned out to be fragrant this year after years and years of no smell. So the lack of scent may be cultural and not necessarily genetic.

John
Thanks there may be hope for the one I grow
not fragrant.The ones I saw Sunday had no
fragrants,the one at UNC Charlotte had a
slight fragrants
Blueangel

I am so glad you listed the pics of the natives.
It helped me ID some of the plants in our woods.
I have a grove of calycanthus floridus and I noticed, too that they have very little scent.

Mine smelled like overripe canteloupe. And they smelled stronger in the evenings than the rest of the day.

MAN, I would LOVE to have one of these. I haven't ever seen them growing in the woods around here of course if I did I wouldn't KNOW that is what it is because I have trouble IDing stuff.
Just yesterday I finally figured out what kind of tree I had growing in the side yard. I wouldn't let the SO cut it down when he was out there cutting down stuff and I am glad I wouldn't because the tree turned out to be an American Elm so I was happy about that!

ANYWAY will Sweet Shrub grow from seeds? If so would anyone be willing to trade some for them? :D hehe

:) Fran

yes it will but you're better off getting a sucker from a bush that you know is fragrant, since it varies. Plus it'll be much faster that way. If you go looking for it in the woods now you'd be able to find it if you had it- the maroon flowers are a dead giveaway and it's blooming now. If you ever get back out this way, i'd be happy to give you a big sucker off mine.

Dr. Larry Mellichamp of UNCC, said that they give off their smell at 6:00 pm, because that is when they attract the tiny bugs that help with polination. We were on a native plant hike, and he was able to show us the little bug.
They do grow from seed quite easily, but tamelask is correct in that you won't know if it is fragrant. Nancy