Sweet-Pepper Bush
Clethra alnifolia (CLETHRACEAE)
Planting and Growing Sweet-Pepper Bush
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow sweet-pepper bush in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, fruit, and seeds of sweet-pepper bush
- Growing conditions for sweet-pepper bush
- When and where to plant sweet-pepper bush
- How to plant sweet-pepper bush
- How to shape, prune and control growth of sweet-pepper bush
- Watering, fertilizing, and care of sweet-pepper bush
- Landscape uses of sweet-pepper bush
- Pest and disease control for sweet-pepper bush
Growing Sweet-Pepper Bush
Several cultivars of medium- to slow-growing, erect, branching, spreading, deciduous shrubs, to 8 ft. (2.4 m) tall and wide, with alternate, textured, deep green, oval, pointed, finely toothed leaves, to 4 in. (10 cm) long, turning brown, yellow in autumn.
Sweet-Pepper Bush Planting and Care Guide
Flowers and Fruit
Many tiny, fragrant, cream, pink, white, bell-shaped, hairy flowers, to 1/2-in. (12-mm) long, in dense, whorled, erect or arching, spiking clusters, to 6 in. (15 cm) long, in summer, form small, capsulelike fruit bearing seed in autumn.
Best Climates
U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zones 3–9. Hardy.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist to damp, well-drained humus. Fertility: Average. 6.0–7.0 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Full sun to full shade. Space 4–5 ft. (1.2–1.5 m) apart.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep evenly damp. Fertilize quarterly during growth. Prune to thin, shape in spring. Propagate by cuttings, division, layering, seed, suckers.
About This Species
Good choice for accents, backgrounds, fencelines in bog, seaside, shade, woodland gardens. Disease resistant. Spider mite susceptible.