clethra plant - Gardening Tips
Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) is a medium-size shrub that adapts to most gardens. Learn more about this fragrant plant that blooms in late summer. When planted right and in the right spot, Clethra, also called summersweet or sweet pepperbush, are very easy to grow.
Understanding the Context
In landscape design, they are especially effective massed or grouped in sunny or shady flowering shrub borders, butterfly and hummingbird gardens. Clethra, also known as sweet pepperbush or summersweet, comprises a variety of shrubs and small trees that can be either deciduous or evergreen. These plants are recognized for their dense clusters of fragrant flowers, which come in shades of white, yellow, or pink. Native to swampy woodlands and marshes, clethra flourish in wet ground and will even tolerate standing water, making them a good choice for low-lying areas of the garden.
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They will thrive in coastal areas as well because of their resistance to salt spray and brackish water. Clethra alnifolia, commonly called summersweet, is a deciduous shrub that is native to swampy woodlands, wet marshes, stream banks and seashores, often in sandy soils, along the coast from Maine to Florida and west to Texas. Native to eastern North America and west to Texas, summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) is found in moist areas such as swamps, wetlands, and floodplains. This deciduous shrub grows to 4 to 8 feet tall and 4 to 6 feet wide in full sun to partial shade. Gloriously fragrant, Clethra alnifolia (Summersweet) is a slowly spreading, densely-branched, deciduous shrub boasting bottlebrush spikes of extremely fragrant white flowers in mid to late summer.
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Lasting about 4-6 weeks, the blossoms open from bottom to top. Sweet pepper-bush is a widespread coastal and freshwater wetland plant, but it tolerates drought well once established, and its profusion of late summer blooms becomes a point of anticipation.