Sixteen Candles Summersweet (Clethra) – 3 Gallon Pot

A magnificent North American native flowering shrub, ‘Sixteen Candles’ Summersweet, also commonly called Sweet Pepper Bush, is adored for her abundant, upright and showy bottlebrush-like spikes of pristine white fragrant flowers that smell like cotton candy! You can’t eat the flowers but the hummingbirds, butterflies and other beneficial pollinators will thank you for planting this one. Highly adaptable, this plant can be grown in sun or shade or damp to even boggy soils. The color show continues in fall when the handsome green foliage turns to bright yellow. A multi-season interest in the garden and very easy to grow ad has no problems with pests or disease, this shrub seldom exceeds 4 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide so is a good fit for smaller garden spaces.

Spacing:  3′ for solid hedges;  8′ or more for space between plants

Sixteen Candles Clethra is very easy to grow and is free of any pest and disease problems. It grows best in consistently moist, slightly acid soils in sun to part shade however tolerates a range of conditions including shade, wet soil, and salt spray. It prefers consistently moist soil in full sun but will tolerate dry periods in shade or part shade.