Henry's Garnet Sweetspire
Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet'
Arching white bottlebrush blooms in June and July, then garnet-red foliage into November. Handles wet soil, clay, shade, and drought.
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
Fragrant summer blooms for native bees and deep garnet fall color in the widest range of conditions of any native shrub.
Henry's Garnet is the sweetspire cultivar that put native sweetspire on the map as a garden plant. The fragrant white flower racemes in June and July are longer and more dramatic than on the straight species: arching bottlebrushes of white, sweet-scented blooms that hang from every stem and draw native bees in numbers you can hear. It grows three to five feet tall and spreads wider, forming a graceful mounding presence with distinctly arching branches. The fall color is the reason for the name: deep garnet-red to burgundy-purple that starts in October and holds well into November, outlasting most other shrubs. In sun it's deeper and longer-lasting; in shade it's still reliably good. It tolerates wet soil, clay, full shade, and drought with equal ease. Named for Mary Henry, a Philadelphia-area botanist who collected plants from the wild in the mid-20th century.
A nursery-grown plant, ready for the ground.
Healthy, container-grown henry's garnet sweetspire 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 henry's garnet sweetspire instead of Japanese spirea cultivars (Spiraea japonica). Same job in the garden, without the spread.
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Average
- Mature size
- 3–5 ft · 4–6 ft wide
- Bloom time
- June–July
- Bloom color
- White
- USDA zones
- 5–9
- Family
- Iteaceae
- Native range
- Eastern United States from New Jersey to Florida (straight species)
Care notes for henry's garnet sweetspire.
Full sun to full shade in wet to average to dry soil. this shrub genuinely adapts to all of it. Spreads by suckering to form colonies over time; remove suckers or let it spread. Thin oldest stems to the ground in late winter to keep the plant vigorous. Tolerates clay, wet, and full shade equally. No fertilization needed. One of the easiest native shrubs to grow.
Pairs well with these.
Same light, same soil, same wildlife. Janet's picks to plant alongside henry's garnet sweetspire.
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’.