Spiraea Species, White Meadowsweet, Northern Meadowsweet

There are two natural varieties of the Meadowsweet Spirea: the first is the Narrowleaf with narrow leaves about 3/4 inches wide and this ...Read MoreBroadleaf Meadowsweet with wider leaves that often are a little rounded, about 1.5 to 3 inches wide. This Broadleaf variety has a native range father northeast than the Narrowleaf variety in eastern North America. So far, I have seen a planted colony along the big pond in wet soil at Jenkins Arboretum in southeast Pennsylvania. I've finally seen wild plants and colonies in northeast Pennsylvania in the southern Pocono Mountains at the Thomas Darling Land Preserve in the front swampy area and at the Austin T. Blakelee Natural Area along the Tobyhanna Creek. I like this native plant!, and it either needs an area to spread or lots of heavy early spring pruning because it does ground sucker, especially in wet soils, which is why the nursery industry grows east Asian species of Spireas that don't sucker or much of it. Some native plant nurseries sell this variety or the Narrowleaf one or both.

I would never recommend this plant for a formal garden as it spreads by underground suckers. However, in a wildflower garden or for a bu...Read Moretterfly garden it is a good shrub. It can tolerate very wet, acidic soil. The stems are upright and end in a dense, conical arrangement of white to pale pink flowers all summer. It is a favorite nesting site for Yellow Warblers in Newfoundland!