Sweetfern
Comptonia peregrina
Sweetfern is a low, aromatic shrub with soft fern-like foliage that releases a sweet resinous scent. A nitrogen-fixer for the poorest dry, sandy, acidic soils, spreading into deer-resistant colonies for erosion control. The aromatic leaves make a pleasant tea, and the small nutlets inside its bristly burrs are edible.
- Family
- Myricaceae
- Type
- shrub
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 2–5 ft
- Spacing
- 4–8 ft apart
- Light
- part shade
- Soil moisture
- dry
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral
- Bloom
- May, June, July, August
- Bloom colors
- white, green
- Wildlife value
- songbirds, butterflies, larval host
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~64 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- naturalizing, rain garden
- Native states
- CT, DC, DE, GA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV