MEET THE 2024 LANDSCAPE SHRUB OF THE YEAR™ – FIZZY MIZZY® ITEA
TOP 3 REASONS TO GROW FIZZIY MIZZY® ITEA
ENJOY UNIQUE SKYWARD-FACING BLOOMS
While most sweetspires’ blooms drape downward, Fizzy Mizzy’s flowers stand right up to catch pollinators’ attention.
IT’S A PROBLEM SOLVER
Sun, shade, deer, poor drainage, alkaline soil—this durable shrub can take it all and then some.
MAINTAINS A TIDY SHAPE NATURALLY
Unlike very large, more wild looking types, this sweetspire naturally maintains its attractive form.
Whether your landscape is in the sun or shade, it’s easy to find a spot for this tidy, attractive shrub. Watch it draw in pollinating bees and butterflies with its softly fragrant, skyward-facing, abundant flower spikes every year in early summer, bridging the gap between spring and midsummer bloomers.
Versatile by Design
| Whether your landscape is in the sun or shade, it’s easy to find a spot for this tidy, versatile shrub. Watch it draw in pollinating bees and butterflies with its softly fragrant, skyward-pointing, abundant flower spikes every year in early summer, bridging the gap between spring and midsummer bloomers. Afterwards, its handsome dark green foliage will create a solid backdrop for later blooming plants. Dealing with deer, shade or wet soil? Fizzy Mizzy® sweetspire is a durable, attractive solution. Plus, its native roots make this flowering shrub especially easy to grow so you can spend your summer relaxing in your garden rather than working in it. |
HOW TO GROW FIZZY MIZZY® ITEA
Fizzy Mizzy sweetspire grows in both sun and shade, but you’ll see more blooms if you plant it in a spot that sees at least some direct sunshine. Watering is a more critical factor to get right with this plant. It tolerates soil of average moisture but prefers moist soil and can even tolerate periodic flooding. You could grow it along the edge of a pond, near the bottom of a rain garden slope, or next to a downspout. If you irrigate your garden beds regularly, it will grow there too. A 1-2” layer of organic mulch will help to preserve soil moisture. When you take your new sweetspire out of the pot, if the roots are densely circled around, loosen them up a bit to break the “root memory”. This will encourage them to grow outward instead of continuing to grow in a circular pattern. A good rule of thumb is to dig your hole twice as wide and just as deep as the plant’s rootball. Note that our shrub partners at Proven Winners® ColorChoice® Shrubs do not recommend amending the soil for your new sweetspire at planting time or adding fertilizer to the planting hole even if you have clay or alkaline soil. When backfilling, press the soil down with your hand firmly to remove any big air pockets around the roots. Then, water the plant to help the soil settle around it. Spread a 2 to 3 inch thick layer of mulch around the base of the shrub taking care to keep it pulled away from the bark. |
MAINTENANCE Sweetspire needs very little maintenance, other than watering, to grow well. If you want it to grow faster, feed it once per season in early spring with a granular fertilizer formulated for woody plants, such as a rose fertilizer. However, fertilizing is not necessary for this shrub to grow and bloom well as long as your soil isn’t completely lacking in organic matter. Since sweetspire blooms on old wood, meaning that it sets its flower buds the year prior, you don’t want to prune its branches before the flowers bloom. Doing so would eliminate that year’s flowers. The exception is if there are any branches that are not showing signs of life after the new growth has begun to appear in spring, those select branches can be trimmed out of the plant. Fizzy Mizzy sweetspire naturally has a tidy form, but it’s not a bad idea for the first few years to prune it to shape immediately after the flowers are spent. This will help the shrub form a more attractive framework in the long run.
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COMPANION PLANTS Everybody needs at least a few plants in their yard that are low maintenance workhorses, able to withstand some challenging conditions without worry. That’s sweetspire. This attractive shrub is useful for filling large spaces, planting in low spots where water tends to pool now and then, and for controlling erosion along the banks of bodies of water and rain gardens. The plentiful, skyward-pointing blossoms of Fizzy Mizzy sweetspire will add a soft fragrance to your fresh cut bouquets in early summer. When gathering them to bring indoors, try not to cut too far down into the main branches but rather trim a few off the top third evenly around the plant to maintain a nice shape. If deer are frequent visitors to your garden, you’ll be happy to hear they usually pass right by sweetspire. Perhaps it’s because there is plenty of the native species, Itea virginica, growing in the wild. However, you can expect pollinating bees and butterflies to be frequent visitors when Fizzy Mizzy sweetspire is in bloom.
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