PlantFiles: Japanese Clerodendrum, Peanut Butter Shrub, Harlequin Glory Bower
Clerodendrum trichotomum

When we moved into our house our neighbors had one of these planted near the fence. That one tree has now become three without any help, and several have tried to move into our yard. It is fast-growing and somewhat invasive, but it is one of my favorite trees. It flowers late in summer, around August, and produces the most heavenly smell imaginable. The dark blue berries last all through winter if the birds don't eat them--the robins love them.

This tree is between 15ft - 20ft high in a corner of my backyard in Hamilton, New Zealand (central North Island of New Zealand). It has prefuse highly perfumed blossoms from December (our summer) to about the end of February into March. The butterflies love it!

I really love this tree, but very, very invasive in Virginia Beach, VA. Planted 2 about 2' in height and 4 years later I have 6 at about 12' to 18' and countless sprouts in my yard I must pull up through out the year. Non stop Butterfly interaction. BUT I must get to the sprouts quickly, they grow very fast and in any place---like the rose of sharon.... I am experimenting with shaping, and I am amazed at the different ways I can make them look!!!

Hard work keeping after them. If I let them go they would take over my yard and make it a forest in no time!!

The is a gorgeous tree that grows as if in a race here in Texas. I have had the tree for only a little over 3 years and it has grown to about 12 feet. The blooms smell like jasmine. My tree, however, has never had the fruit that you always hear about it. That doesn't stop the tree from apparently sending out dozens of babies A YEAR. It seems I'm having to pull a few seedling a week from spring until fall. It is a very lovely, small tree and is a wonderful addition to any garden.

Lovely shrub that blooms in mid-summer when many other shrubs have finished. Blooms are very fragrant and attract mobs of butterflies. The leaves smell badly if crushed. Mine grows in Maryland at the edge of woodland and is about 15 feet tall. Uniquely colored calaxes and berries provide nice fall interest. I've never noticed birds eating them, though. Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania has at least two nice specimens. A real treat to have in the garden. A hardy plant that's pretty, too boot.

Maybe this plant is too tropical for the Pacific Northwest. The plant itself is healthy and blooms each year, but the flowers fall off without forming the calyxes or berries. I have seen others around Seattle that are covered with the berries, so am having a hard time diagnosing the problem. There are plenty of bees and butterflies in my garden, it is in well drained soil and has been fertilized. This year it got leggy and seemed to be getting some fungus. I will keep it for a few more years to see if it holds its berries, but if not it's coming out!

Wow! A freeze-tolerant tropical with lovely gray-green foliage, beautiful floral umbels of white - pink blossoms that attract butterflies from miles around, and easy enough for a 3rd grader to grow! We obtained ours from the nearby Mercer Arboretum during a tropicals symposium there, about 6 years ago, as a bare rooted limp thing that had been unceremoniously yanked from the good Mercer ground earlier that day. We put it in our deep sandy loam here at our place, under partial shade, and here it has thrived. Our soil tends to be rather acidic, easily leached, with a resultant thin humic layer. If there is a knock on this plant, it is that it is almost too easy to propogate. In the 6 years we've had this plant, its blue-black berries have given rise to half a dozen more within a 10' radius of the original. However, I have had no problem hawking these at plant swaps, etc. Mention "butterfly magnet" and they're gone!

Quite invasive, but friends love to have a plant so not a big problem. Called locally "Butterfly Tree". Butterflys and humming birds flock to it. My specimen tree is about 20 feet tall.

Unique flower/calyx/seed combo stops traffic. A very large example (15'x15') was recently removed here (Raleigh, NC) and was an outstanding small tree. Flowers start as cream colored buds in July then open as soft pink/white. Gradually, the calyx swells a bright magenta and the seed is a bright blue. Gives appearance of two separate flowering cycles lasting several months. Late frosts here in 7b-8a have done some damage, but not significant. Butterflies go right past the buddleia nearby and hover over this by the hundreds. Numerous "pass-alongs" in Johnston Co. NC have performed very well, I am told.

A deciduous shrub or tree. Leaves are usually entire, opposite, 10-23 cm x 5-10 cm, dark green, soft hairy. When bruised, they have the odor of peanut butter. White flowers appear in late summer and early fall, fragrant; showy red calyxes cover small, and ultimately, bright blue fruit.