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Plant of the Week
Itea, Virginia Sweetspire
Latin: Itea virginiana
Choosing plants for your landscape can be somewhat bewildering given the
thousands of choices in nurseries.
To help make the choices easier, the Department of Horticulture has teamed up
with the Arkansas Nurseryman’s Association and the Arkansas Greenhouse Growers
to identify plants that will do well across Arkansas. The program, known as
Arkansas Select, is in its third year and has been warmly received by state
gardeners.
For 2000, six plants were designated as Arkansas Select winners. They include
two woody shrubs, two perennials and two annuals. Over the next six weeks, I
will attempt to describe these plants in some detail and point out their garden
merits.
Landscape styles are changing and Itea fits the new style perfectly.
Gone are the days where stiff formality of tightly pruned balls are the norm.
Now the loose and fluffy look is in.
Itea, traditionally considered a member of the Saxifrage family but now
being reclassified weekly as the new taxonomic order takes shape, is a native to
the southeastern states from the Pine Barrens of New Jersey to east Texas.
It has been reported in about half of our Arkansas counties, all the southern or
eastern part of the state. While in the wild it typically is found associated
with moist and even swampy sites, in the landscape it conforms nicely to the
moisture regime of the average garden.
Itea grows 3- to 4-feet tall and spreads horizontally by means of
underground stems about twice its height. It tends to produce ascending branches
that often slightly arched near the tip. Leaves are typically 3 inches long and
1-inch wide and a lustrous green in the summer. In the fall the leaves turn
shades or red, maroon and orange and persist well past Christmas. The flowers
are slightly fragrant and appear in April as white, pendant bottle-brushes to
six inches long.
Two cultivars have been given the nod by the Arkansas Select committee. "Henry’s
Garnet" was the first named selection of Itea, being named only in the 1980s
from a plant growing on the campus of Swarthmore College from seed that had been
collected in Georgia. The seeds were collected by Josephine Henry and garnet is
the school color, hence the name. "Saturnalia" is the second selection
highlighted, because of its Arkansas connection. Larry Lowman, a nurseryman from
Wynne, introduced this plant in 1995 from material he collected while canoeing
in Tennessee. It is said to be slightly more compact than Henry’s Garnet and
have yellow orange fall color instead of red.
If you have a control fixation and constantly feel the urge to use hedge shears,
Itea is not for you. But, if you can appreciate gracefully arching
branches and an open, naturalistic look, this shrub is a good choice for massing
in the border. It grows in full sun to medium shade in typical garden soils.
Though native to wet areas, it has good drought tolerance.
In my garden, the planting in a well watered location is 3 feet tall and
spreading rapidly. The planting under a thirsty elm tree is only about half as
tall, but holding its own against an aggressive competitor. No serious disease
or insect problems have been noted.
By: Gerald Klingaman, retired
Extension Horticulturist
- Ornamentals
Extension News -
April 7, 2000
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