{"id":11224,"date":"2022-05-27T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T16:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=11224"},"modified":"2022-05-25T21:12:26","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T01:12:26","slug":"clethra-species-you-should-be-growing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2022\/05\/27\/clethra-species-you-should-be-growing\/","title":{"rendered":"Cinnamon Clethra"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Clethra-barbinervis-23-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13666\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Clethra-barbinervis-23-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Clethra-barbinervis-23-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Clethra-barbinervis-23-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption> <em>Clethra barbinervis<\/em> growing at the High Line in NYC <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<div id=\"MainContentPlaceHolder_CultureRow\" class=\"row\">\n<p>Japanese clethra (<em>Clethra barbinervis<\/em>) is a large, upright, deciduous shrub or small tree (USDA 5-8). As a small tree it generally grows 10-20 feet tall and features horizontally drooping, terminal racemes (4-6 inches long); the white flowers are pleasantly fragrant. Its bloom period continues over several weeks from mid to late summer. In autumn, its blemish-free, glossy, dark green foliage turns brightly yellow, sometimes taking on reddish tones.<\/p>\n<p>This Asian clethra is larger in all respects than our native sweet pepperbush (<em>Clethra alnifolia<\/em>). As a multi-branched shrub, it typically grows 8 to 12 feet tall. In early summer, the small ivory flowers appear and later give way to peppercorn-shaped seed capsules borne on the branch tips in fall. The dark brown seed capsules persist through winter.<\/p>\n<p>By mid-autumn the bark begins peeling off\u00a0in small, irregular patches to expose a cinnamon inner-bark. It is often nicknamed &#8220;cinnamon clethra&#8221;.\u00a0 It is the plant&#8217;s most striking feature. As the tree ages, its polished exfoliating cinnamon bark stands out\u00a0against newly fallen snow.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Clethras grow in average, medium to wet, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Shrubs prefer partial shade and moist, humus-rich, slightly acidic soils. In northerly climes (zone 5), the Asian form should be grown in locations protected from harsh wintry winds and where it may not be reliably hardy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"MainContentPlaceHolder_NoteworthyRow\" class=\"row\">\n<p>Cinnamon clethra is a good choice for a woodland garden.\u00a0Flower spikes are less fragrant than those of <em>C. alnifolia<\/em>, but attract butterflies and bees. No serious insect or disease problems trouble this tough multi-branched shrub or small tree.<\/p>\n<p>Japanese clethra is rarely sold by local garden centers but is available from on-line specialty nurseries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"685\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Clethra-barbineve-1024x685.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13668\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Clethra-barbineve-1024x685.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Clethra-barbineve-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Clethra-barbineve-768x514.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>July blooming <em>C. barbinerve<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Japanese clethra (Clethra barbinervis) is a large, upright, deciduous shrub or small tree (USDA 5-8). As a small tree it generally grows 10-20 feet tall and features horizontally drooping, terminal racemes (4-6 inches long); the white flowers are pleasantly fragrant. Its bloom period continues over several weeks from mid to late summer. In autumn, its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,657,1218,747,1319,1591,1498,674,645,806,10,1525,853,551,1571,843,1060,1059,601,729,777,630,706,646,7,655,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11224"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13675,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11224\/revisions\/13675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}