'Hartlage Wine' & 'Venus' Calycanthus hybrids are relative newcomers to horticulture and landscape gardens. The JC Raulston Arboretum (NC State University, Raleigh) distributed cuttings of 'Hartlage Wine' to professional horticulturists in 2000. Plant breeders at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center (NC State University, Fletcher) patented and made 'Venus' available to plant propagators in 2003. These hybrids may be purchased through online and specialty nurseries.
In landscape designs, both of these cultivars make handsome specimen plantings and grow well when grouped in shrub borders or wild areas. As hybrids, they exhibit characteristics of contributing parents. They possess:
- fragrant flowers;
- appealing foliage;
- wide-ranging adaptability;
- shade tolerance, and
- first-rate pest resistance.
'Hartlage Wine' Sweetbush (Calycanthus x raulstonii' Hartlage Wine’) - Photo #1
- Upright broadleaf deciduous shrub, 8' tall to almost 8' wide, may reach 15' × 10';
- Flowers maroon to wine-colored, slight fragrance, about 3" wide, with off-white tipped stamens;
- Bloom period from spring through early summer;
- Flowers being sterile, the plant does not produce seed;
- Leaves glossy, bright green, opposite, simple, 4 1/2" to 7" long;
- Sun or part shade habitat;
- Hardy to USDA Zone 5 to 6.
Parentage incorporated a series of double crosses between Calycanthus chinensis (Chinese Sweetshrub or Wax Plant) and Calycanthus floridus (Carolina Allspice or Sweetshrub). Richard Hartlage, an undergraduate student at NC State University, carried out the breeding work under the direction of Dr. J.C. Raulston, horticulture professor and founder of the NC State University Arboretum (now the JC Raulston Arboretum).
'Venus' Sweetshrub (Calycanthus 'Venus') - Photo #2
- Spreading broadleaf deciduous shrub 6-10' tall and wide;
- Flowers solitary on short stalks at ends of current season's growth;
- Buds yellow-green open widely to 3" to 4.5" diameter, white magnolia-like flowers composed of 20 to 30 petal–like structures with center s splashed with yellow and purple;
- Fragrance similar to fruity aroma of strawberries and melons;
- Bloom time May to June continuing sporadically into June and July, with flowers lasting from 2 to 4 days;
- Flowers being sterile, the plant does not produce seed;
- Leaves opposite, simple, yellow-green when young maturing to glossy green, from 3" to 4" long and 2" to 4", wide, autumn color buttery yellow to yellow–brown;
- Full-sun to shade, best growth on moist sites;
- Soil pH from about 4.5 to 6.5;
- Hardy to USDA Zone 5.
‘Venus’ is a complex hybrid developed through a NC State University breeding program at The Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center under the direction of Dr. Thomas G. Ranney. It includes C. chinensis (Photo #3), C. floridus (Photo #4) and C. occidentalis (Photo #5)in its pedigree.
"Although the sweetshrubs are not generally considered mainstream landscape plants, they hold great promise... Once discovered, gardeners invariably become infatuated and muse romantically about the alluring fragrance and subtle charm of sweetshrubs. No garden should be without them!" says Dr. Ranney in Re-inventing Sweetshrubs at the 2003 North Carolina State University, North Carolina Association of Nurserymen, Nursery Short Course, June 3-4, 2003.
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Georgene A. Bramlage - Suite 101 Landscaping Feature Writer and Topic Editor Free-lance Garden and Landscape Writer and Consultant
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