Raulston Allspice

Raulston allspice is a wonderful medium-sized shrub for the woodland garden, being showy but not overly so, and easy to grow. It tolerates very dry shade once established, but prefers dappled light and a little moisture.

This lovely plant is easy to grow in average, medium moisture, well-drained soil. It does best in part shade, but tolerates full sun as long as the soil is kept moist. It will tolerant of a wide range of soils, including sandy or clay, but prefers rich moist loams.

Prune immediately after flowering to shape and to maintain compactness. Unless you are planning to have the plant naturalize, remove root suckers promptly if naturalization is not desired. Flowers are reportedly sterile, so plant will not produce viable seed.

Description

Calycanthus raulstonii, commonly known as Raulston’s allspice or sweetshrub, is a large, upright-rounded, thicket-forming, multi-stemmed, suckering, deciduous shrub which typically grows to 8-10’ tall and as wide. It features somewhat fragrant maroon flowers in spring and may continue through summer and into fall depending on weather conditions. Foliage is glossy emerald green color turning to butter yellow in the fall.

The plant gets is common name of sweetshrub because its fragrance is often described as similar to pineapple, strawberry and banana.

Often used in woodland gardens, border plantings, or natural hedges in dappled shade.