Skip to Content Skip to Navigation
Menu

Simply Scentsational® Sweetshrub Calycanthus floridus

Flower Season
  • Spring
  • Summer
Mature Size
6' 5' 1.8m 1.5m
Height: 6'
Spread: 4' - 5'
Height: 1.8m
Spread: 1.2m - 1.5m
  • Details

    72 - 72 Inches
    48 - 60 Inches
    48 - 60 Inches
    1.8m
    1.2m - 1.5m
    1.2m - 1.5m

    Features

    The nicest smelling native on the market! Simply Scentsational® calycanthus is the result of thousands of sniffs and we're proud to say this is the most intriguing scent you'll find in any garden. Debate amongst your friends and relatives whether it's melon, banana, strawberry, or even Juicy Fruit gum that your nose is picking up. And while you're at it, you can admire its gorgeous velvety magnolia-like flowers. 

     Top reasons to grow Simply Scentsational® calycanthus:

    - Impressive show of large burgundy blooms from spring into summer.

    - Unique native to add to any wildlife garden.

    - Exotic looking, but cold hardy into zone 4!

    Fragrant Flower
    Continuous Bloom or Rebloomer
    Resists: 
    Deer
    Native to North America

    Characteristics

    Plant Type: 
    Shrub
    Shrub Type: 
    Deciduous
    Height Category: 
    Tall
    Garden Height: 
    72 Inches 1.8m
    Spacing: 
    48 - 60 Inches 1.2m - 1.5m
    Spread: 
    48 - 60 Inches 1.2m - 1.5m
    Flower Colors: 
    Red
    Foliage Colors: 
    Green
    Foliage Shade: 
    Bright Green
    Habit: 
    Upright
    Container Role: 
    Thriller

    Plant Needs

    Light Requirement: 
    Part Sun to Sun
    Light Requirement: 
    Sun

    The optimum amount of sun or shade each plant needs to thrive: Full Sun (6+ hours), Part Sun (4-6 hours), Full Shade (up to 4 hours).

    Maintenance Category: 
    Easy
    Blooms On: 
    New Wood
    Blooms On: 
    Old Wood
    Bloom Time: 
    Early Summer
    Bloom Time: 
    Mid Summer
    Bloom Time: 
    Late Spring
    Hardiness Zones: 
    4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b
    Water Category: 
    Average
    Soil Fertility Requirement: 
    Average Soil
    Uses: 
    Landscape
    Uses: 
    Specimen or Focal Point
    Uses Notes: 

    Makes an incredibly elegant specimen plant. Brings a pop of color and interest to native gardens. 

    Maintenance Notes: 

    Adaptable to most moist well drained soils. Prune to shape after flowering, if desired. 

    Simply Scentsational® Calycanthus floridus 'SMNCAF' USPP 33,550, Can PBRAF
  • 3 Reviews

    5
    2
    4
    3
    2
    1
    1
    Browse reviews from people who have grown this plant.
    • I went with Scentsational since I am trying to add as many North American-native plants as I can. (Some of the other sweet shrubs on the market are hybrids, crossed with foreign species) The flowers I got smelled like grape-soda. I could only smell them when I put my nose right up in the flower, or, random waffs from far away. It’s not the most ornamental shrub, but if you like some interesting smelling flowers, followed by a simple green (native) shrub go ahead and plant one!

      Diego
      , South Carolina
      , United States
      , 1 year ago
    • I detest the smell of most sweet shrub. They’re usually smelly like vinegar to me, I’ve never encountered one that fragrance that could be detected far away. The fragrance on cultivar is lovely. It’s a sweet melon smell. I grow near a curve in one of my main gardens so I can enjoy the fragrance as I pass by it. It’s a background plant for me but I enjoy the deep burgundy flowers. They look similar to the straight species but a tad smaller.

      RC
      , New York
      , United States
      , 1 year ago
    • I bought this almost-guaranteed-fragrant sweetshrub because my Proven Winners Aphrodite has zero fragrance. This one has terrific candy-like fragrance but only if you stick your nose right into a flower. This is my second season with it. It currently is covered in blooms again --and let's face it, sweetshrubs are a bit dumpy, we're buying these solely for the fragrance -- But you certainly can't detect any scent on mine more than an inch away. And just as with last year, even that scent fades to nothing after a couple of days. A fragrant garden was my ultimate goal, as migraines prevent me from bringing scents inside. But it's been maddening. PW isn't the only grower promising fragrances that don't deliver.. The only scent we have is from lavenders and the neighbor's old lilacs which are so strong they waft several yards away.. My advice, that I wish I had taken initially, is to find a straight species sweetshrub if you can afford the space. Once it's been tinkered with, sweetshrub seems to lose its best asset. And the scentstational is the least attractive of the bunch, too. The flowers have kind of an odd, decayed look to them as if they are already dried for arrangement. I would have gladly put up with it if it had lived up to its claims.

      Sarah
      , Virginia
      , United States
      , 1 year ago
Back to Top

Find plants you love and create idea boards for all your projects.

To create an idea board, sign in or create an account.