Habitat:

• native to Massachusetts down through Louisiana
• hardy to zone 5

Habitat and Form:

• a deciduous shrub
• 4' to 6' tall and similar in width
• suckers
• medium-coarse texture
• moderate growth rate

Summer Foliage:

• alternate leaf arrangement
• simple, deciduous leaves
• elliptical leaf shape
• 0.5" to 2.5" long
• crenate leaf margin
• lustrous green leaf color

Fall Foliage:

• reddish fall color
• somewhat showy

Flowers:

• white flowers
• 0.33" long
• borne in racemes, up to 4" long
• blooms in May and though June

Fruit:

• capsule
• not ornamentally important

Bark:

• stems mix of green and red
• glabrous and shiny

Culture:

• prefers moist, cool, acid soils
• best in partial shade
• can rejuvenate old plants by pruning to ground in spring
• protect from winter wind
• tolerates wet sites

Landscape use:

• naturalizing
• borders with other ericaceous plants
• facer plants with taller plants
• shady bank stabilization

Liabilities:

• desiccation burn in winter in exposed sites
• leaf spot can be a problem in area with poor air circulation

ID Features:

• stout, glabrous green-red stems with little lateral branching
• colonizing habit
• evergreen, alternate, 0.5" - 2.5" long leaves
• racemes of white urn-shaped flowers in axil

Propagation:

• cutting root readily in June or winter root easily with hormone
• seed

Cultivars/Varieties: