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Resources < Wildlife Habitats < Native Plants < Native Plant Database < Clethra alnifolia
Summersweet blooms in the dead
of summer, bringing sweet relief to the monotony of humid,
flowerless July and August days. In their mail order catalog, the
folks at Wilkerson Mill Gardens in Palmetto, Georgia, describe
summersweet’s effect in the garden and on the psyche this way: "When
we’re sick of summer heat and moping like suburban kids forced to
leave air conditioning, the summersweets bloom, and we remove our
clothes and dance in the gardens. Summer is better once this
pink-flowered beauty opens. Its fragrance is remarkable, and the
flowers dance with butterflies and bees."
Summersweet is very easy to
grow. It’s the perfect plant for those shady damp spots in the
garden that can often be so challenging to fill. But summersweet
doesn’t have to have shade or constant moisture; it’s highly
adaptable and performs well in a wide range of conditions, including
sunny sites, occasionally dry soils, and soils of various pH.
Clethraceae (White Alder Family)
Medium-sized deciduous shrub with 1 to 4", wedge-shaped, dark green
leaves. 3 to 8" spikes of fragrant white to pink flowers appear in
mid-summer. Small, tan, dry fruits ripen in fall and persist through
winter. Fall leaf color is cream to gold to bronze.
3 to 8’ tall and
4 to 6’ wide.
Upright,
oval-shaped shrub; tends to sucker and form colonies.
Slow.
Full sun to full
shade. Light shade is ideal.
Though plants prefer rich, moist to wet, acid soils, they will grow
almost anywhere, including sandy soils, clay, and soils that are
occasionally dry. Tolerant of heavy pruning and salt.
Assets include intensely fragrant
summer flowers and cream, yellow, and bronze fall color.
Plant in masses, borders, or as a
specimen.
Flowers provide nectar to bees,
hummingbirds, and butterflies. Seeds are eaten by a variety of birds
and small mammals.
Found
in wet pine savannahs, swamps, bays, bogs, flatwoods, creeks, and
pocosins in the Coastal Plain and lower Piedmont.
Seed (no stratification),
layering, division, softwood cuttings, root cuttings.
Text and photo by Leslie Kimel, Georgia Wildlife Federation
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Summersweet
