Fragrant Sumac

Rhus aromatica

Fragrant sumac is a medium-sized native shrub that earns every square foot it occupies. Crush a leaf and you get that sharp, resinous, citrus-adjacent fragrance immediately. In early spring, yellow flower clusters appear before the leaves, providing some of the first nectar of the season for native bees that have just emerged from overwintering. The three-lobed leaves are clean and attractive through summer. Come fall, the plant turns deep orange to red in a display that holds for weeks on dry slopes and open edges. The fuzzy red berries that follow are eaten by birds from fall through early winter. It spreads by root suckers to form loose, naturalistic colonies. excellent for slope stabilization and naturalized edges where a single-stem shrub would look out of place. This is the standard species; 'Gro-Low' is the more compact cultivar. Both are exceptional.