Tar Flower, Fly Catcher

This is the most beautiful shrub! It is 5 or 6 feet tall and probably as wide. It seems to send out a stem that lays across the sand an...Read Mored makes a new branch. It also produces a ton of seeds. I have not yet tried to plant any of the seeds. It blooms at the end of May or early June every year. It likes to be left to its own devices.

This is a truly beautiful little plant and the flowers are incredibly fragrant. I like them even more than gardenia or jasmine, but I ha...Read Moreve not yet had any luck with this plant. The first one I planted died within the first year. This second one is larger and planted in a different area of the yard, but is not faring well. It appears to be very sensitive about having an acidic soil. I have mostly slightly alkaline soil in the yard (pH 7-8) and tried altering the pH of my soil slightly with magnesium and alumninum sulfate about once a month. I also put some in the hole when I planted it. It doesn't seem to be helping. I was warned to keep it away from the house (it's concrete block) and any other concrete so that it wouldn't be affected by leaching calcium carbonate, which makes the soil alkaline. It's a great plant if you have the right conditions for it.