Clethra Vanilla Spice

Clethra alnifolia 'Vanilla Spice'………USPP 21,589

Common Name: 'Summersweet' or 'Caleb'

An easy-to-grow and beautiful North American native flowering shrub, Vanilla Spice Summersweet, also commonly called Sweet Pepper Bush, is adored for her abundant, upright, and showy bottlebrush-like spikes of pristine white fragrant summer flowers that smell like cotton candy! The flowers are twice as big as other types of Clethra alnifolia varieties. You can't eat the flowers, but the hummingbirds, butterflies, and other beneficial pollinators will thank you for planting this one. This plant is highly adaptable, thriving in the sun, shade, or moist to wet soils, and even tolerates drought. The color show continues in fall when the handsome green foliage turns to bright shades of yellow. Providing a multi-season interest in the garden and being pest- and disease-free, Vanilla Spice seldom exceeds 6 feet tall and 5 feet wide, making it a good fit for smaller garden spaces. Get all the details below.

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 4b-9b

Plant Type: Deciduous Flowering Shrub

Height at Maturity: 4-6'

Width at Maturity: 3-5'

Growth Habit / Form: Bushy, Upright

Growth Rate: Moderate

Plant Type: Deciduous Flowering Shrub

Height at Maturity: 4-6'

Width at Maturity: 3-5'

Growth Habit / Form: Bushy, Upright

Growth Rate: Moderate

Sun Needs: Full Sun or Mostly Sun, Morning Sun with Dappled or Afternoon Shade, All Day Filtered Sun, Morning Shade with Evening Sun

Water Needs:  Average

Soil Type:  Clay (amend heavy clay), Loam, Sandy (amend quick-draining soil for moisture retention), Silt 

Soil Moisture / Drainage: Moist But Well-Drained to Wet

Soil pH: 5.5 – 7.5 (Acid to Slightly Alkaline)

Sun Needs: Full Sun or Mostly Sun, Morning Sun with Dappled or Afternoon Shade, All Day Filtered Sun, Morning Shade with Evening Sun

Water Needs:  Average

Soil Type:  Clay (amend heavy clay), Loam, Sandy (amend quick-draining soil for moisture retention), Silt 

Soil Moisture / Drainage: Moist But Well-Drained to Wet

Soil pH: 5.5 – 7.5 (Acid to Slightly Alkaline)

Landscape & Garden Uses

Growing upright to 4 to 6 feet tall and 2 to 5 feet wide, Vanilla Spice Clethra is ideal for use as an accent in smaller garden spaces and containers or grouped or as a hedge where space allows. Plant it near windows, patios, and other outdoor sitting and living spaces where the fragrance can be enjoyed from close up. In consistently moist soils, it will spread by stolons and form a colony. A fine addition to butterfly and hummingbird gardens, pollinator gardens, white theme gardens, fragrance gardens, bog gardens, wildlife gardens, native plant gardens, and cottage gardens.

Suggested Spacing: 3-3.5 feet for groupings or a hedge; 7 feet apart for space between plants