This colorful deciduous shrub, Virginia sweetspire or Virginia-willow (Itea virginica), combines beauty with functionality and durability. Fragrant, white flowers adorn this shrub in late spring, and its leaves turn brilliant bronze and red in the fall. In the wild, Virginia sweetspire can be found in moist forests and along the banks of streams, rivers, and lakes from southern New Jersey to Florida, west across the Gulf Coast states to Texas and Oklahoma, and up through Missouri and Illinois (USDA Cold Hardiness Zones 5 to 9). Despite its preference for swampy, wet soils, Virginia sweetspire will thrive in drier locations in full sun to part shade; however, expect the best floral display in areas receiving at least 6 hours of sun.
A wild Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica) blooms at the lake’s edge.
R. F. Polomski, ©2023, Clemson Extension
Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica) produces two- to six-inch long fragrant bottlebrush-like flower clusters at the tips of its branches.
R. F. Polomski, ©2023, Clemson Extension
Height/Spread
Virginia sweetspire typically grows four to six feet high but can grow to more than eight feet, especially in shaded or seasonally moist areas. Its spread often exceeds its height because Virginia sweetspire produces new plants from suckers that emerge from laterally growing roots.
When establishing a shrub border, provide adequate space between plants to allow Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica) to naturally spread from root suckers to fill in the voids.
R. F. Polomski, ©2023, Clemson Extension
Ornamental Features
During May and June, two- to six-inch long fragrant bottlebrush-like flower clusters called racemes droop down from the ends of the arching branches. In each inflorescence or cluster of flowers, white five-petaled star-shaped flowers open from the base to the tip to create an extended display of color that lasts for weeks. The nectar-rich flowers attract bees and butterflies, and the tan-colored capsules that follow contain seeds relished by birds.
When establishing a shrub border, provide adequate space between plants to allow Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica) to naturally spread from root suckers to fill in the voids.
R. F. Polomski, ©2023, Clemson Extension
A closeup of Henry’s Garnet Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica) flower.
R. F. Polomski, ©2023, Clemson Extension
From October to December, the leaves turn brilliant yellow, orange, and red. The green stems develop reddish tints in winter.
Henry’s Garnet Virginia sweetspire produces spectacular fall color, especially when planted en masse.
R. F. Polomski, ©2023, Clemson Extension
Close up of Henry’s Garnet Virginia sweetspire.
R. F. Polomski, ©2023, Clemson Extension
Virginia sweetspire retains some of its leaves in late fall and winter in the warmer parts of its range, but they are completely shed when winter temperatures fall below 15 to 20 ° F.
Landscape Use
Virginia sweetspire provides many functions in the landscape. Due to its preference for moist soils, Virginia sweetspire thrives in rain gardens, bioswales, and other areas prone to periodic flooding. Its tendency to colonize and form thickets by suckering lends itself to managing soil erosion on the banks of creeks, rivers, and lakes. This shrub is seldom severely damaged by deer.
Use Virginia sweetspire in naturalized settings such as this unmowed slope that contains native ornamental grasses and herbaceous perennials.
R. F. Polomski, ©2023, Clemson Extension
Virginia sweetspire will also prosper in drier locations that include shrub borders, woodlands, and naturalized landscapes. Infrequent watering may be necessary during extended dry periods in full sun locations.
If pruning is necessary to improve its appearance in maintained landscapes, do so right after flowering. Flower buds will be produced on the current season’s shoots by the end of summer and will open in spring of the following year.
Practice renewal or rejuvenative pruning to remove the oldest, thickest stems. It encourages the production of new, vigorous shoots that will result in an improved floral display. For more information, see “A shrub do-over involves a makeover.”
Problems
Virginia sweetspire has no significant pest problems. Leaf spot, caused by disease-causing fungi and bacteria, may disfigure the leaves, but oftentimes, it is only a cosmetic problem that affects the appearance, but not the health, of the shrub. To reduce the occurrence of leaf spot diseases, avoid wetting the foliage when irrigating.
Cultivars
Several cultivars of Virginia sweetspire were selected for compact growth habits, reduced size, longer inflorescences than the species, and improved fall color. All of the following cultivars produce white flowers.
- ‘Bailteaone’ U.S. Plant Patent (PP) 31,318 Love Child® grows 3 to 4 feet tall and wide and has a dark red fall color. Resulted from a controlled cross of ‘Henry’s Garnet’ and ‘Sarah Eve’ in Watkinsville, Georgia.
- ‘Beppu’ grows 3 feet tall and has a wine-red to reddish-purple fall color. Its compact habit and ability to spread by root suckers make it a good choice for mass plantings, naturalizing, and controlling soil erosion on hills and slopes. This USDA introduction was discovered in Beppu, Kyushu, Japan, in 1955. It was determined by Arnold Arboretum researchers to be a selection of Itea virginica, which is believed to have been introduced to Japan as early as 1887.
- ‘Henry’s Garnet’ grows four to six feet tall and wide and produces a brilliant reddish-purple fall color. Mary G. Henry (1884–1967) collected it from the wild in 1954 in Coweta County, Georgia, and cultivated it at her Henry Foundation for Botanical Research in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. Over the years, this selection was given to several horticultural institutions and nurseries, including the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College in 1980. It was “rediscovered” on the campus and, in 1984, was officially named ‘Henry’s Garnet’ to pay homage to its discoverer and the College.
- ‘Long Spire’ (‘Longspire’) grows three to five feet high and produces drooping six- to eight-inch long inflorescences and multicolored fall colors of yellow, orange, red, and purple. Discovered by Julia and Robert Mackintosh along the Savannah River near Augusta, Georgia.
- ‘Merlot’ (Short N’ Sweet™) grows 3 to 4 feet tall and wide on slightly arching branches. The fall color is burgundy-red, and the foliage persists into winter. Developed by Mary Beth and Richard Feist at Hummingbird Nursery in Burlington, Kentucky, and introduced by Mark Griffith, Griffith Propagation Nursery, Inc., Watkinsville, Georgia.
- ‘Sarah Eve’ grows to 4 to 6 feet high and wide. Individual flowers are attached and connected to a small pink stalk or pedicel that imparts a pinkish hue to the entire inflorescence. It has an inconsistent fall color. Nancy Bissett of The Natives Inc. in Davenport, Florida, found it in the wild and named it for her daughter.
- ‘Shirley’s Compact’ is a miniature form that grows 18 inches high and 3 feet wide after 10 years. Its undersized twisted leaves turn shades of red, orange, and yellow in the fall. Discovered by Shirley Brooks Speight on the Biltmore House grounds in Asheville, North Carolina.
- ‘SMNIVDFC’ PP 30,233 Scentlandia® grows three to five feet tall and wide, produces fragrant flowers, and has burgundy-red fall color.
- ‘SMNIVMM’ PP 33,549 Fizzy Mizzy® is a petite, two to three feet tall and wide shrub with unique, upright-growing, narrow conelike blooms and scarlet to burgundy autumn color.
- ‘Saturnalia’ grows three to four feet high and wide with a loose, irregular habit. Fall colors include orange, red, and yellow. Larry Lowman of Ridgecrest Nursery in Wynne, Arkansas, found it along the Wolf River in Tennessee.
- ‘Sprich’ Little Henry® grows three to five feet tall and wide, produces three- to four-inch long racemes, and has brilliant red and orange fall color. Discovered by Richard Feist from Hummingbird Nursery in Burlington, Kentucky, as a branch mutation or “sport” on ‘Meadowlark’ Virginia sweetspire.
References:
- Author, unknown. Landscape Shrubs: Sweetspire, Virginia sweetspire
(Itea virginica) [sic]. University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. https://www.uaex.uada.edu/yard-garden/resource-library/plant-database/shrubs/sweetspire.aspx. [accessed 2 Aug. 2023]. - Author, unknown. Our plants: Itea virginica ‘Shirley’s Compact’. https://jcra.ncsu.edu/horticulture/our-plants/results-by-name-serial-number.php?serial=102751. [accessed 2 Aug. 2023].
- Copeland, LL and AA Armitage. 2001. Legends in the garden: who in the world is Nellie Stevens? Wings Pub., Atlanta, GA
- Crawford, B. 2022. Itea—A ‘late bloomer’ most worthy of rediscovery. NJ Agricultural Experiment Station. Rutgers, The State University of NJ. https://njaes.rutgers.edu/plant-of-the-month/itea.php. [accessed 2 Aug. 2023].
- Hop, M. 2022. An assessment of Itea. 2010. The Plantsman. 9(2):84-87.
- Mazzeo, PM and DH Voss. 1996. Itea ‘Beppu’: The return of the native. Arnoldia. 56(3):21-25.
- Ward, B. J. 2004. The plant hunter’s garden: the new explorers and their discoveries. Timber Press, Portland, OR.
Originally published 09/04
