Description
Clethra – Summersweet – Sweet Pepperbush – White Alder –
There are about 60 species and evergreen small trees and shrubs, in this genus. They occur in woodland, swamps, and rocky places in Eastern Asia and North America, with one species from the island of Madeira. The leaves are alternate, simple, obovate to oblong, rarely lance shaped, finely to coarsely toothed, and mid to dak green. Some have attractive peeling bark. Clethras are grown for their fragrant, bell to cup shaped, white or yellowish white flowers, borne in racemes or panicles. Flowers are followed by numerous tiny seed capsules. They are suitable for a woodland garden or a mixed border.
Grow in acidic, fertile, humus rich, moist but well drained soil in partial or dapple shade.
Prone to fungal dieback and root rot.
C. alnifolia ‘Paniculata’ – C. paniculate – Sweet Pepperbush – Summersweet Clethra – This upright, suckering, deciduous shrub from moist woods in Eastern USA grows 8-10′ feet tall and 8′ feet wide. It produces oval, thin, mid green leaves, often turning yellow in autumn, to 4″ long. In late summer and early autumn it bears bell shaped, fragrant white flowers, to ½” across, in dense, upright, panicles 4″ across.
Zones 4-9
