Peanut Butter Plant

Have you ever heard of a plant called the peanut butter plant? Supposedly, the leaves smell like peanut butter.

—Linda Craig, La Pine, Oregon

Melinda: You must be referencing the peanut butter shrub, also known as harlequin gloryblower (Clerodendrum trichotomum). When crushed, the leaves of this plant do smell like peanut butter. This shrub prefers moist, well-drained soils and full sun, but it will tolerate some shade. It has white, tubular flowers in summer, followed by a bright blue, berry-like fruit. While some people love this plant, other find it a bit unkempt when it's not in bloom. It is hardy in Zones 6 to 9 and is treated like a subshrub in the northern areas of its hardiness. In warmer regions, it can be grown as a shrub or trained into a tree form if the suckers are continuously removed.