← Bedfellow

Fetterbush

Lyonia lucida

Fetterbush is a glossy evergreen of the Southeast's pine flatwoods, bays and pocosins, where it builds the dense understory tangles that give it its name — the interlaced stems really will fetter anything trying to walk through. Its leaves are leathery and deep green, marked by a distinct vein running parallel just inside the leaf margin, an easy field character that separates it from its neighbors year round. In early spring, clusters of small pink urn-shaped flowers hang along the previous year's wood in the tight nodding shape typical of the heath family, and bumblebees work them hard. It wants wet, sandy, strongly acidic ground and some shade, and it will not tolerate a limey or a dry bed. It is a recorded caterpillar host, and the thicket habit offers small birds nesting cover that few other shrubs in its habitat provide.

Family

Ericaceae

Type

shrub

Lifespan

perennial

Height

3–6 ft

Spacing

3–6 ft apart

Light

part shade, shade

Soil moisture

moist

Soil pH

acidic

Bloom

March, April, May

Bloom colors

pink

Wildlife value

butterflies, pollinators, songbirds, larval host

Caterpillar hosts

~11 butterfly & moth species

Landscape uses

hedge or screen, naturalizing, rain garden

Native states

AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, VA