I bought 'Aphrodite' this spring from Garden Crossings, a standard qt pot. The plant was a beautiful specimen and produced one bloom, just now finished. It looks like it was a gallon plant.

It’s interesting that Proven Winners lists Simply Scentsational as z4, while Aphrodite as z5. I wonder how they came to that conclusion? They will also have a burgundy colored clone available next year.

This one is 4-5 years old. Not sure what 'type' it is. Bought from a local nursery where everything is $8 for 1 gallon pot. Gets afternoon shade. I do nothing to it other than trim and thin out suckers. Due for another but waiting til it's done blooming. Was loaded with blooms this year. I'm in zone 6a.

Simply Scentsational is a native species selection. Aphrodite is a hybrid. That's where the zone differences comes from.

That would explain it. Thanks!

I'd just like to add a warning. I love Calycanthus. I have 'Hartlage Wine' The first three years it did well, then last spring I came out to see that the rabbits had chewed it down to little nubs. So I finished the job and cut it all the way back. I wondered how well it would come back, but it has done very well. It's come back in multiple stems and is dense. I am not sure if they will do that again or not. Maybe I should start leaving out carrots and lettuce for the rabbits in the winter and they might leave my shrubs alone. [g] I can't see putting wiring around every shrub that they've chewed up.

" I can't see putting wiring around every shrub that they've chewed up. "

That's what I've had to do until shrubs grow big enough.

My 'Hartlage Wine' is about 10' tall, so unless the rabbits rapidly evolve to be the size of moose, I should be ok.

A warning about the dark-leaved form of C. floridus on offer, whose name escapes me - it reverts pretty badly. I gave up on cutting out the green at this point. Will probably throw it out.

David, so when you say your Hartlage is 10ft tall now. Did you train it like a tree with a single trunk? My shrub has foliage down to the ground on the stems.

I also hate plants that revert. I've had variegated Sedum that reverted and a number of Hostas that have too.

No I didn't train it. It's just big. It does seem to spread (by stolons) a bit less than the Calycanthus floridus I grew as a teen, but still 'wants' to be multi-stemmed.

So you have leaves low enough for rabbits to munch on? Mine was under 4ft and they ate it right down to the ground.

Karen – that’s a beauty – it looks like ‘Hartlage Wine’ – I have 3 in the ground for 2 years now and have not pruned them yet – I have to say I’m a little anxious about it. Mine were also loaded with blooms this year. $8 – very good purchase!

David – my ‘Hartlage Wine’ are about 8’ now – they are inside deer fencing that the rabbits get through but they seem to leave them alone. A 10 footer in flower must be a sight.

You mentioned the dark-leaved form of C. floridus reverting – I have Calycanthus floridus var purpureus 'Burgundy Spice' – is that the one reverting? I took a photo this morning – it has some green veining that I think is normal – otherwise looks ok. Unfortunately, I did not flower well this year.

Prairiemoon – You must have some big rabbits!

Porkchop - Any Love!? – What’s not to love - I have ‘Venus’ – ‘Hartlage Wine’ - 'Aphrodite' – 'Burgundy Spice' – I like them all. I do not have ‘Simply Scentsational’ so can’t comment on it. A possible con might be spotting on flowers –

here is a link from the Chicago Botanic Garden ‘A Comparative Evaluation of Sweetshrubs (Calycanthus)’:

https://www.chicagobotanic.org/plantevaluation/comparative_evaluation_sweetshrubs

It’s a bit lengthy but regarding the spotting it says:

Mild to moderate spotting on leaves and flowers was only a minor cosmetic issue on most taxa but detracted more significantly on the light-colored flowers of ‘Venus’ and ‘Athens’.

'Hartlage Wine'

'Burgandy Spice'

Well, Raymond, they just chop the stem off at their height and bring the leaves down to their level. they've done that with my 6ft tall Lilies too. I try to grow things they don't like but sometimes they have a season where they like everything.

It is frustrating dealing with rabbits. They’re way overpopulated here, but help has arrived. A couple of nights ago I heard a fox doing its fox thing. If you’ve never heard it, do a web search and take a listen. It’s frightful! Yesterday a fox passed in front of me as I was driving home. Yes!

Very glad to hear I picked a winner! Sounds like they will turn into very nice shrubs.

I'm approaching this question from a zone 8b perspective, and I garden in a small space. If I was in z5-6 and/or had a lot of space I would be all over this genus and probably collect many cultivars! But here in Portland Oregon, and with a small garden, I have trouble justifying most of the cultivars because of their immense size, ungainly growth, and the fact that they're neither broadleaf evergreens, nor do they have outstanding winter form, bark color or fall foliage color. Admittedly I have not witnessed the (yellow-brown?) fall color on any of them...with the exception of 'Burgundy Spice'.

dancingoaks.com has had a small specimen of Burgundy Spice in their display gardens for a few years and I would walk right by it, until autumn, when the unique mix of warm, metallic tones engulfs the plant...I was stopped in my tracks and have never seen anything else like it. The flowers are not worth noting, its all about the fall color, and to a lesser extent, the dark summer foliage. I've had a plant for 1.5 growing seasons. Its fairly slow growing but is doing well. So far no reversions as noted by davidrt28. I have a photo on my phone of the fall color on the plant at dancingoaks.com, if I can find it I'll post it here.

Oh, and fragrance. Maybe one out of ten times when I encounter a plant in bloom can I detect any fragrance, and half of those times the smell is unpleasant. But everyone experiences fragrance differently.

Raymond it looks like your 'Burgundy Spice' is in a fair amount of sun. I'm now wondering if mine is reverting because it's in too much shade.

My strain of lop eared rats has never seemed to eat Calycanthus so I guess I'm just lucky that way!

Here is Burgundy Spice in autumn.

The ChiBot evaluations linked above mentions 'Simply Sensational' as having the best fragrance. My small plant with about ten blooms was quite noticeable from several feet away. Maybe not as potent as Daphne, but very nice to my sense. I might not use it as a specimen shrub, but in the border along a garden path it seems perfect.

Artinnature, what plant would you choose in your garden for fragrance?

maackia - Fragrance in z8b? It is a long list! Daphne, which I tend to kill, but I keep trying. Eternal Fragrance isn't much to look at but shrubs in my neighborhood are indeed eternal - sweet fragrance from at least 50 feet away, from April through now. All Daphne have great fragrance IME, D. odora is quite strong and very early season. Azara microphylla has wonderful chocolate-vanilla scent. The roses here in Portland are off the charts and many of them have outstanding fragrance, but I haven't grown any...yet. I inherited 'Etoile de Hollande' climber and it has a rich, heady fragrance. My entire neighborhood was awash in the fragrance of Trachelospermum jasminoides from May through July, that one really wafts a great distance! The magnolia clan formerly known as Michelia are very fragrant, and they've been hybridizing many new ones. I'm growing Snowbird and Fairy White and will definitely add more. Magnolia grandiflora is no slouch either. I hope to add some Camellia lutchensis hybrids as they have a sweet fragrance in late winter but are very hard to find. Eleagnus x ebbingei cultivars have a strong, wafting clove fragrance but it can be a bit much after a couple of weeks! The dark-leaved Actaeas are hard to beat for late-season fragrance, and you can actually grow them, I think? I could go on and on. I don't like the tree much as they always look like crap here but in autumn the falling leaves of Cercidephyllum japonicum smell like toasted brown sugar. With climate change you could experiment with this one!

@UpperBayGardener (zone 7)

Hi David – After your last post about 'Burgundy Spice' I wanted to check how much sun it gets. It is in a relatively shady area and receives some filtered sun at times. It is in a North facing position under a large Tulip Poplar, a large Black Walnut and many large Beech surrounding. What I noticed was that the Beech trees were suffering from BLD and had sparse leaf canopies. So, I believe the area is getting more filtered sun than before. Also, after a closer look at the 'Burgundy Spice' I discovered a reverting branch (photo attached - thanks for the heads-up). Photos of 'Burgundy Spice' are from morning and afternoon – there’s also a photo of a neighbors Beech across the street which used to provide more late day shade but it is losing the leaf canopy. FWIW: Pleasant Run Nursery says – Exposure (Sun / Partial Shade/Shade Tolerant).

Morning

Afternoon

BLD

I have a specimen of Calycanthus x "Aphrodite" that is growing well in partial sun. It flowered for the first time this spring. Very attractive, except no significant fragrance that I could detect, which defeats the purpose of growing Calycanthus as far as I'm concerned. One website reviewing "Aphrodite" said:

"Here is what one nursery said about detecting the flower's fragrance. It depends. "The scent varies based on the age of the bloom, the time of day, and the flower itself. Some people say they smell like pineapple, others apples, others bubblegum, and some get no scent at all"."