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Itea virginica
Also called Virginia-willow, Virginia Tea, Sweetspire, Tassel White, Pepperidge
Virginia sweetspire is a deciduous, suckering shrub native to the eastern and southeastern United States, grown for its fragrant summer flower spikes and red autumn foliage. It thrives in moist, rich soil and needs room because it spreads by root suckers.
Itea virginica, commonly known as Virginia willow or Virginia sweetspire, is a small North American flowering shrub that grows in low-lying woods and wetland margins. Virginia willow is a member of the Iteaceae family, and native to the southeast United States. Itea virginica has small flowers on pendulous racemes.
Depending on location, the species will bloom in late spring to early summer. It prefers moist rich soil, but it can tolerate a wide range of soil types. When Virginia willow is used in horticulture it can form large colonies and may form dense root suckers, making the shrub hard to remove.
In cultivation in the UK the cultivar 'Henry's Garnet' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Itea virginica is used as a native ornamental landscape plant in North America, and numerous cultivars have been named. The flowers attract pollinators, and the shrub can be used for erosion control.
I. virginica's range extends from New Jersey south to Florida, and westward to Texas and Oklahoma.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Itea virginica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
