Coastal Sweetpepperbush
Clethra alnifolia
Summersweet perfumes mid-summer with spires of white-to-pink flowers that bees and butterflies swarm. Thrives in wet soil and shade where few shrubs bloom.
- Family
- Clethraceae
- Type
- shrub
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 3–8 ft
- Spacing
- 4–6 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- moist, wet
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral
- Bloom
- July, August
- Bloom colors
- white, pink
- Wildlife value
- songbirds, butterflies, larval host
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~10 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- border, foundation, hedge or screen, naturalizing, rain garden
- Native states
- AL, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, LA, MA, MD, ME, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT