Clethra alnifolia in zone 8b. Never blooms..Help

Is anyone having luck with this plant is zone 8b.?
( 40 miles north of Houston)
My 6 year old plant grows well in it's location but never blooms..this year it has some tiny little white buds on it's tips but they are sparse..
Is it just not suited for our heat and humidity..?

Clethra alnifolia 'Hummingbird' was selected at Callaway Gardens in south GA. I've never been there, but I've heard it gets a little H&H from time to time.

How dry do you let your summersweet get? It is happiest with ample moisture.

Well, if it blooms in south Georgia it ought to bloom here, It lives with azaleas and they get a lot of water and it gets morning sun and afternoon sun until about 2:00 pm..
Lynn

If you can, take some pictures of the whole plant and its position. Also, some closeups of the stems and foliage.

Maybe something else is afoot that a visual inspection might reveal.

Thank you for your help..

Maybe it isn't Clethra alnifolia..Gosh that would be embarrasing!

Here are the pictures..If somebody knows how to get multiple pictures in 1 reply please tell me..

1) Southwest wall in a courtyard..It gets am sun and HOT sun until about 2:00 pm..Conditions are such that the autumn fern and azaleas thrive.. note the yellow leaves..Don't know if this is the result of not enough water, too much water, too much sun?? It gets azalea food quarterly..

Picture 2

6 year old plant, first year for these tiny little blooms..Is this IT? Or are better things on the way?

Picture 3

Closeup of new leaves

Definitely not a Clethra!

I'd say Euonymus japonicus (Japanese Spindle) or another related species of spindle.

Resin

Uh Oh,

This was a mail order plant and I think i've been babying the wrong plant for 6 years..

Thanks for your help .I guess I'd have been waiting a long time for it to bloom..
Well..... now to find place to move it to, so I can put a clethra in its place....

I'm stickin' with Resin...that's Euonymus of some sort (note opposite leaf arrangement). Biased personal opinion says punt it in favor of something else.

If you are so fortunate as to acquire a true Clethra, it will have alternate foliage gracing its stems. Give it the wettest spot you got if you are putting it in the full TX sun. By a downspout, dripping faucet, or leaky hose fitting often works well without excess effort.

You know, of all the plants there are, euonymous rank near the bottom of the list of plants I like.. I pretty much stick with natives..It must be punishment for all the times I said bad things about euonymous..
"Golden" euonymous are used extensively here in commercial and residential landscaping and are in every nursery.. Oh yes, the Japanese Spindle will be moving out to the woods..
So what is a true clethra. ? I see them advertised as Clethra alnifolia and no cultivar listed.. Is this them. ? If I find one it will get the wettest spot I have..
Thinking back, I always did wonder why it didn't defoliate in winter..
Anybody else have any "Gee am I dumb or what" plant stories you'd like to confess to..?
.



Lynn

This message was edited Jun 8, 2007 8:59 PM

This message was edited Jun 8, 2007 9:36 PM

Too many to list.

You might not want to move that Asian Euonymus out to the woods. That plant is well capable of out-competing the natives you prefer.

Here's Clethra alnifolia and if you click on the words that say there are 7 venders that have this plant for sale, a list of online nurseries that have it will appear-
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/79183/index.html

Now if you go to the top of this page and click on the tab that says PlantFiles, you can do a search for Clethra alnifolia and quite a few of the cultivars will show up. Here, I've done it for you-
http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=clethra&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=alnifolia&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

There are a few alnifolia cultivars I'd like to try. Maybe next year.

Thanks,

I had no idea there were that many cultivars.

A couple of weeks ago when I still thought the Japanese Spindle was the
Clethra, I broke off 3 pieces and stuck them in some moist sand..today I pulled them up and all 3 had rooted.. Yes, it does seem they could out compete the natives..

lynn

There are 2 native Euonymus that I know of. Euonymus americanus and Euonymus atropurpureus. I don't know if they work in your zone, but they're nice plants.

I do have some native Euonymus americanus in the woods..I'll look for the other.. I'm not familiar with it..

Lynn

You'll typically find Euonymus americanus (strawberry bush) on soils of somewhat acid reaction. Euonymus atropurpureus (eastern wahoo, hearts a burstin') prefers soils circumneutral.

Both are nice plants, with the wahoo getting to be a bigger specimen with very small purplish flowers and smooth-capsuled fruit and strawberry bush having small creamy whitish flowers and warty-capsuled fruit.

Beware of the ever-present euonymus scale, the bane of all the native Euonymi.

If you can find the relatively rare Euonymus obovatus, run with it.

Euonymus obovatus..Running Strawberry Bush..
Pun intended?
Lynn

Just this once...

I have the 2 I mentioned above. They both were doing well....I noticed the other day on americanus that it had this black stuff on the twigs and undersides of the leaves. Some twigs were what looked like they were melted towards the top, so the last 1/2 foot or so was hanging down, with all this black stuff. And ants galore all over it. I should get a photo of it and post it in Garden pests to see what it is, coz describing I am not good at...lol.