Calycanthus floridus 'Purpureus'

We do like purple here at Cutting Edge Plants (see the purple on our pages?), so we're drawn to the purple backsides of this sweetshrub variety. Calycanthus floridus is one of our favorite native species, anyway - those flowers being so very original in design. The flowers are the typical burgundy of most other types, but it's those purple leaf undersides that make this unique. The leaf uppersides are darker green than the species and other types. We like it for that reason too - the color variation amongst the different Calycanthus cultivars in our collection (even just green color variation) adds interest and variety to our woodland garden. In the Deep South, Calycanthus loves growing in dappled shade or in a location where it receives morning sun, but shade all afternoon. For this shady reason, it's a good partner for a hydrnagea garden. Further north, it can tolerate more sun and in the sun it doesn't grow quite as tall. It prefers a rich, loamy soil (a woodland soil). Calycanthus will thrive and colonize in the situations herein described.