 Fothergilla gardenii
(Dwarf Fothergilla)
Botanical Name: Fothergilla gardenii
Common Name:
Dwarf Fothergilla
Plant Hardiness:
Zone 5
Flower:
White, fragrant and quite showy. 1" to 2" long spikes, looking like bottle brushes, cover the plant as the leaves are beginning to open.
Bloom Time:
Late April into May.
Foliage:
Dark green (sometimes with bluish cast) during the summer. Beautiful mix of yellow, orange and red fall color. Very showy.
Fruit:
Not showy - a dry capsule containing 2 small black
Habit:
Small, rounded shrub that is densely branched with a tendency to sucker.
Size:
3 to 5 feet tall, sometimes getting wider than tall
Sun Exposure:
Full Sun Full Shade
Native Habitat:
Eastern United States from North Carolina into the Florida panhandle
Other Features:
Description: This is an excellent small shrub growing not much more than 3 to 5 feet in height although it can be quite a bit more than that in width. The leaves around it look very much like those of Witchhazel (in which family this plant belongs). Although this is a very nice looking shrub in the summer with dark green leaves which are virtually insect free, it is in the spring and fall that this plant really shows its value. The flowers in the spring are white, quite fragrant, and made up not of petals or bracts but rather many, many stamens borne on spikes, giving the appearance of miniature bottle brushes. In the fall the leaves turn all kinds of colors - yellow, orange, red and mixtures of the above. It is one of the most spectacularly colored plants we have available in the fall. Its soil requirements are pretty much the same as those of ericaceous plants. Good, loamy, well drained, peaty, acid soil is what is required. Indeed, this is a good plant to mix with rhododendrons and azaleas, the flower being quite different from theirs. The spectacular color in the fall will brighten up the dark green rhododendron foliage at that time of the year.
|
