Mt. Airy Fothergilla
Fothergilla major 'Mt. Airy'
April bottlebrush blooms with honey fragrance, then weeks of orange, yellow, and red fall color. Adaptable to average soils, and deer leave it alone.
Typically 1 quart–3 gal · $17–$85 · final price at pickup
- Thu, Aug 138 AM – 4 PM
- Fri, Aug 148 AM – 4 PM
- Sat, Aug 158 AM – 2 PM
Spring fragrance, summer texture, fall fireworks. one native shrub doing the work of three.
Mt. Airy fothergilla might be the best all-around native shrub for a mixed border. In April, white bottle-brush flowers with a honey-sweet fragrance cover the bare stems before leaves emerge. The bees find it immediately. Then through the summer, the blue-green textured foliage fills in. Come fall, 'Mt. Airy' puts on one of the most reliable color shows of any shrub in the trade: orange, yellow, and red all on the same plant at the same time, often for weeks. This cultivar stays in the four-to-six-foot range and is notably more adaptable to average garden soils than the straight species. It doesn't need acidic bog conditions to thrive, which makes it far more usable than many natives in the Ericaceae. Deer leave it alone. Pest and disease problems are essentially nonexistent.
A nursery-grown plant, ready for the ground.
Healthy, container-grown mt. airy fothergilla propagated on-site at Hill House from regional genetics. Includes a one-page care card. We make every effort to supply plants as listed; occasionally we substitute a similar species of equal value.
Plant mt. airy fothergilla instead of Burning bush (Euonymus alatus). Same job in the garden, without the spread.
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Average
- Mature size
- 3–6 ft · 36–72 in wide
- Bloom time
- Spring
- Bloom color
- White
- USDA zones
- 4–8
- Family
- Hamamelidaceae
- Native range
- Appalachian mountains from West Virginia to Alabama
Care notes for mt. airy fothergilla.
Part shade to full sun in moist, acidic to slightly acid, well-drained soil. More sun generally means better fall color. 'Mt. Airy' tolerates clay and average soils better than most Ericaceous shrubs. Water through the first growing season. After that, it's largely self-sufficient. Pruning is rarely necessary.
Pairs well with these.
Same light, same soil, same wildlife. Janet's picks to plant alongside mt. airy fothergilla.
Or skip the guesswork.
Curated packages bundle complementary species for an instant habitat. One reservation, one pickup day, a printed layout map.
Short on Space Package
For gardeners who have an abundance of passion but are short on space, this package features tidy, upright, clump-forming natives that behave and function well in small spaces.
Shade Bed Package
Ferns, sedges, and woodland natives that thrive under existing trees.
Birder’s Paradise Package
For the avid bird watchers and budding ornithologists in our community, the Birder’s Paradise Package consists of species that Hill House Nursery staff and longtime native plant advocates such as Doug Tallamy consider ‘premier bird garden plants’.