The spicy-sweet scent wafting through the yard signals that the Sweetshrub, or Carolina Allspice, is in bloom. This native plant grows wild along the east coast from Pennsylvania to Northern Florida and west to Mississippi. Sweetshrub can tolerate full sun but part shade is much better. The one in the pictures is a true native--it somehow escaped the bulldozer when my house was built. Lucky for me--it's nice to have such a lovely fragrant shrub in my yard.
Comments