Summersweet Clethra

 

The Sweet Smell of Summer

 

Oh, how the gardens are alive with butterflies this time of year!  Finally, in the past two weeks, we are seeing so many fluttering around the nursery searching for nectar.  And lucky for us, it’s a living lab.  We get to watch and see which plant the butterflies love the most.  Butterfly plants are the most commonly requested at the nursery.  And I hear so many people say the same thing…I get hoards of butterflies on my Butterfly Bush.  Butterfly Bush is not native, although many people think it is because it has escaped cultivation and become naturalized.  It is not on the invasive list in PA, but it might be soon.

 

Summersweet Clethra 'Ruby Spice'



There is a great native shrub that is the perfect substitute to Butterfly Bush.  It goes by the name Summersweet Clethra, or Clethra alnifolia.  It has a similarly shaped flower, but more cylindrical than pyramidical.  The straight species is white, but one of our favorite cultivars is ‘Ruby Spice’.  The best part is the scent…they don’t call it Summersweet for nothing!  You can smell a large Summersweet shrub before you see it.  And ‘Ruby Spice’ blossoms have such a gorgeous color gradient, rose to light pink to white.  It grows best in moist conditions but it will tolerate drier conditions once established.  It prefers full sun to part shade and in comparison to Butterfly Bush, it is much more rounded and full all the way to the ground and topping out at 5-8’.  It is attractive in fall with its yellow fall foliage.  Once you get a whiff of it in bloom, you’ll wish you were a butterfly so you could drink its sweet nectar!   

Native Bees

Native Bees 

 

 

As I drive to the nursery, I look at all the homes nestled into farmland, each property like a unique piece of fabric in the landscape quilt.   The day progresses and I find myself talking to a gardener about planting flowers amongst their tomato plants to increase fruit yield or explaining why clover in the lawn is actually a good thing.  I drive to my consultation and I am helping a homeowner decide whether or not to clear out those “wild” areas along the fencerows near the farmers’ field and what to do with the vast amount of acreage that is lawn.   

 

 

Thanks to the media focus on Colony Collapse Disorder, most of us know the role that honeybees play in sustaining our food source.  But fewer people are aware of the fact that native bees are also important pollinators for crops. The honeybee, which is a non-native European bee, is essential for commercial growers.  The bees can be kept in hives and moved around from place to place, pollinating large monocrops upon demand.  Most of our wild bees on the other hand are solitary and require natural habitat because they are ground bees or wood bees.  They obtain nectar from a variety of sources instead of having a limited diet of the beekeeper’s choosing.  Supporting native bees seems to be the best insurance plan for our food crops. 

We have over 300 species of native bees in PA and they are the ones pollinating the majority of our summer crops.  As a gardener, you can do some simple things to support native bees.  If you have a large lawn, create forest or meadow habitat along the edges.  Allow clover to grow and flower in your lawn.  Plant borage with your tomatoes.   Let some of your basil bolt for the bees.  Leave snags and stumps in place.  Don’t use pesticides.  Plant Linden trees which provide a large amount of flowers early, when food sources are scarce.  Plant masses of diverse flower shapes and colors (Helenium and Mountain Mint shown above) that flower from spring through fall.  By providing food for our native bees, we ensure food for ourselves. 

More information on native pollinators in our area