Cliftonia monophylla 'Berry Pink'

Cliftonia monophylla 'Berry Pink' is a rare, pink-flowered selection of the Black Titi, a native evergreen shrub or small tree of the southeastern coastal plain that normally blooms in white. The species haunts the acid bogs, pond margins, and titi swamps from the Carolinas to the Gulf, where the early flowers make the buckwheat tree one of the first and most important nectar sources of the southern year, the source of the prized titi honey.

This exceptional pink form was found by the noted plantsman Jim Berry in the Florida Panhandle, and we named the clone in his honor. 'Berry Pink' carries delicate rosy-pink flowers in early spring, warmed by orange anthers, in such profusion that the whole crown becomes a soft cloud of color above glossy evergreen leaves. As a garden plant the shrub is graceful and substantial, lovely as a specimen or a flowering backdrop in the moist, acidic ground where the roots run happiest.

There is a further curiosity for the collector: Cliftonia is a monotypic genus, meaning Cliftonia monophylla stands alone as the only species in the whole lineage, with no close cousins anywhere. Site 'Berry Pink' in sun to part shade at a pond edge, a rain garden, a native or pollinator planting, or the moist margin of a woodland, and let the early pink bloom feed the first bees of the season.