Sweetshrub

Calycanthus floridus

Crush a leaf of sweetshrub and catch the scent. something between strawberry, pineapple, and sweet burgundy wine, with a green edge underneath. It's one of the most complex, unexpected fragrances in the entire native plant world, and it comes from the leaves as much as the flowers. The dark maroon-brown flowers that open in late spring add another layer: they look almost tropical, like something from a rainforest rather than the Virginia piedmont. Sweetshrub grows as a wide-spreading rounded shrub for shade gardens and woodland edges. It spreads slowly by suckers to form relaxed colonies, works beautifully massed under large trees, and tolerates drier shade conditions that challenge most plants. Essentially pest-free and very deer-resistant.