Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) is a medium-size shrub that adapts to most gardens. Learn more about this fragrant plant that blooms in late summer. 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.

Understanding the Context

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. Coastal sweet-pepperbush is a deciduous perennial shrub in the clethra family (Clethraceae). It is native to eastern North America, from Maine south to Florida and west to Texas.

Key Insights

Clethra alnifolia 'Hummingbird' (Summersweet) is a compact, fragrant shrub that blooms in mid to late summer with white bottlebrush spikes. 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. Summersweet clethra is a native, deciduous upright shrub that typically grows between 4 and 8 feet tall and slowly spreads by sending up new shoots from rhizomes to form a small thicket. Clethra is one of two genera in the family Clethraceae (the other being Purdiaea).

Final Thoughts

The species may be evergreen or deciduous, and all bear flowers in clusters (inflorescences), which correspond to racemes or panicles.