Sumac
Rhus species (ANACARDIACEAE)
Planting and Growing Sumac
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow sumac in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, fruit, and seeds of sumac
- Growing conditions for sumac
- When and where to plant sumac
- How to plant sumac
- How to shape, prune and control growth of sumac
- Watering, fertilizing, and care of sumac
- Landscape uses of sumac
- Pest and disease control for sumac
Growing Sumac
About 150 species of varied, upright, spreading, deciduous or evergreen shrubs, 3–20 ft. (90–600 cm) tall. Deep green, leathery leaves divided into leaflets, 2–5 in. (50–125 mm) long, turning brilliant red or orange in autumn.
(Plants of the genus Toxicodendron—including poison ivy, oak, and sumac—were formerly classified within the Rhus genus of sumac. Because these removed plants often cause severe eye irritation and skin rashes in sensitive individuals, always avoid Toxiciodendron species in landscape plantings. Plants of the Rhus family are generally safe from such hazard.)
Sumac Planting and Care Guide
Flowers and Fruit
Many tiny, often fragrant, cream, green, yellow flowers, to 1/4‑in. (6‑mm) wide, in upright, spiking clusters, to 2‑1/2‑in. (63‑mm) tall, in summer, form small, round or flat, red, yellow, often woolly fruit containing seed in autumn, persisting into winter.
Best Climates
U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zones 3–9. Hardy.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist to dry, well-drained soil. Fertility: Average. 6.0–7.0 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Full sun to partial shade. Spacing varies by species.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep damp; allow soil surface to dry between waterings. Drought tolerant when established. Avoid fertilizing. Prune, coppice in winter. Propagate by cuttings, layering, seed.
About This Species
Good choice for banks, coppicing, ground covers, hedges, screens in meadow, natural, rock, seaside, woodland gardens. Attracts birds. Invasive. Pest resistant. Fungal disease, verticillium wilt susceptible.
Warning:
Foliage of Rhus species plants may cause skin irritation in sensitive individuals. Wear rubber gloves when touching plants.
Common Species of Sumac
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- Rhus aromatica, fragrant sumac
- Rhus chinensis, Chinese sumac
- Rhus copallina, dwarf sumac
- Rhus glabra, smooth sumac
- Rhus integrifolia, sourberry
- Rhus lancea, African sumac
- Rhus laurina, laurel sumac
- Rhus microphylla, desert sumac
- Rhus ovata, sugarbush
- Rhus trilobata, skunkbush
- Rhus typhina, staghorn sumac
- Rhus verniciflua, Japanese varnish tree
- Rhus virens, evergreen sumac
About This Species
About 150 species of erect shrubs, trees, and vines make up the <em>Rhus</em>—Sumac—genus. Sumac are a highly varied group of mostly coarse-foliaged shrubs. They include about a dozen species commonly used in landscape plantings.
Sumac are native to temperate and subtropical zones throughout the world, and most species are very cold tolerant. Most species are hardy to U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zone 3.
Sumacs look best in large areas. They are fast-growing shrubs with species that range in height from low and spreading plants 3 ft. (90 cm) tall to large shrubs of 20 ft. (6 m) or taller. To control their growth and keep them dense, prune them heavily in winter.
Many large-habit species make ideal understory foliage plants for natural or woodland gardens. They can be coppiced to create several trunks, an appealing, many-branched habit, or to feature cloaked, textured foliage.
Autumn is the season during which sumacs are most appealing. They color brilliantly in every hue of orange and red, a seasonal-color display that may for a month or more.
Though sumacs resist most garden pests, they are susceptible to fungal diseases.
Choose from among the most popular species of Sumac, listed above.
Planting and Caring for Sumac
As outstanding foliage plants noted for their intense autumn color, sumacs deserve a place in sunny or partially shaded gardens in a natural or woodland setting.
Choose from evergreen or deciduous species.
Plant sumac species in damp, well-drained, somewhat acidic, sandy humus, as an understory beneath conifers and other trees. Give them good drainage. Avoid locations with boggy, saturated soils. Sumacs are subject to fungal diseases when kept constantly moist.
Sumac rarely need fertilizing; keep their soil from becoming too alkaline by applying an acid fertilizer in early spring whenever the soil’s pH rises above 7.5 or their foliage yellows with chlorosis.
Although they are planted mostly for their foliage, they also produce feathery panicles of tiny, cream or white flowers during the summer months. Their flowers create the illusion of wave crests riding above the deep green, lobed foliage.
Sumac set colorful clusters of berrylike fruit in autumn that remain until winter. Sumac fruit attracts many fruit- and berry-eating species of birds to feed.
Avoid disturbing the roots of sumacs once plantings mature. When roots are cut, they sucker and multiply to create new shrubs.
They may also tend to invasiveness. When planting sumacs near a turfgrass lawn in beds or borders, install a deep masonry or root-block edging to limit their roots spread under paving.