Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) is one garden plant that truly lives up to its name, producing an abundance of sweetly scented flowers during the waning days of summer, when few other shrubs are in bloom. The Garden Guy has known of the summersweet or Clethra alnifolia for over 20 years when the variety Hummingbird was selected as a Georgia Gold Medal Winner in 1996. If I may pose the question however, ...

Understanding the Context

is a hard-working, sweet-natured plant. Nicknamed summersweet, Clethra thrives on moisture. Overindulges if the truth be known. If nothing's nearby to check her growth, she can expand indefinitely, by ...

Key Insights

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. Hardy summersweet doesn’t just tolerate the damp conditions where other shrubs falter, it thrives in them. Whether nestled along a stream bank or planted in a moist garden bed, this resilient native shrub offers a profusion of fragrant blooms just when most others are winding down for the season. 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.

Final Thoughts

Q: I have a sunny garden area that tends to stay damp. Are there shrubs I can add that attract pollinators, without having to improve the drainage? A: Indeed, you have several choices among both ... Flowers are mere frills, fleeting spots and masses of color. Plant flowering shrubs, and you get both the backbone and the frills in one plant. Look around now: Many summer flowering shrubs are ...