Clethra alnifolia var. tomentosa

The summersweets are among the most fragrant of American shrubs, native to the moist woods, swamp edges, and pond margins of the eastern United States, where the white summer spikes scent whole acres of low ground. Country people knew the plant as Sweet Pepperbush, for the peppercorn-like seed heads, and as Summersweet, for the honey-and-clove perfume; the crushed flowers even raise a soft lather in water and once served as a woodland soap.

The woolly summersweet is the southern face of the clan, a variety set apart by a soft felting of hairs on the leaves and twigs (tomentosa means woolly). The foliage resists mites better than the smooth-leaved forms, and the fuzzy leaves flush two to three weeks ahead of relatives such as 'Anne Bidwell' and 'Rosea', then hang on as the last summersweet leaves to fall in autumn. The flower spikes run larger than the straight species and open later in the season, extending the fragrance well past midsummer. More at home in southern heat than the northern clones, though gardeners at the cold edge of the range should give the plant a sheltered spot.

Give the woolly summersweet a moist, sunny to part-shaded spot where the late, oversized spikes can be caught on the air: a pond edge, a rain garden, a damp border, or an informal hedge. Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds work the flowers steadily, and the shrub colonizes gently by root to fill a wet corner. Pair with ferns, itea, and other moisture-lovers native to the same low ground.