GARDEN CAPSULE
The challenge: You’d like to have some flowering shrubs in a low-lying spot in your yard, but the soil stays too wet for most woody plants.
The solution: Choose summersweet ( Clethra alnifolia). This North American native is found mostly along the East Coast in boggy soil in either full sun or partial shade. Its candle-like flower spikes come in white or shades of pink. Many kinds grow 4 to 6 feet tall. For a tiny space, there are also some dwarf varieties. Sugartina Crystalina, for example, grows only about 30 inches tall.
Pluses: Summersweet blooms in the dog days of summer, when few other woody plants are blooming. Its flowers emit a spicy-sweet perfume and attract butterflies and bees. Glossy, dark-green foliage makes an attractive backdrop for the flower show. Yellow fall color lights up the autumn garden. These easy-to-grow plants shrug off the heat and are seldom bothered by insects or deer.
Minuses: If the soil is too alkaline, the foliage may be plagued with yellowing leaves, a condition called chlorosis. Rabbits sometimes chew on the shrub’s stems, especially in winter. Caging the shrubs is worth consideration. Particularly if grown in full sun, summersweet may need supplemental water in dry weather and spider mites sometimes attack. (Luckily, washing off the foliage with water from the garden hose is usually all it takes to banish these tiny pests.)
Sources: Most garden centers carry one or more varieties of summersweet. Sugartina Crystalina is a Proven Winners variety ( provenwinners.com).