Fothergilla gardenii L.

Dwarf fothergilla, dwarf witchalder

Fothergilla is for John Fothergill, a physician and gardener. Gardenii doesn’t mean “looks good in a garden”—it recognizes Dr. Alexander Garden, a contemporary of Fothergill’s for whom the gardenia is also named. Dwarf fothergilla is native to the American southeast.

Plants: This deciduous shrub is 1½–3′ (45–91 cm) tall and 2–4′ (60–121 cm) wide, with crookedly branching stems.

Leaves: Alternate, 1–3″ (2.5–7.6 cm) long, glossy, dark green or gray-green to blue-green, with prominent veins and shallow lobes or teeth. They become brilliant red, orange, yellow, and pink in the fall

Flowers: It produces numerous white flowerheads that look like bottlebrushes. Each flowerhead is 1–2″ (2.5–5 cm) long and ¾–1″ (1.9–2.5 cm) in diameter. The brushlike filaments are white flower stamens and pale yellow anthers; there are no petals. The flowers smell a bit like honey

Fruits: Incon­spicuous green capsules that turn olive brown.

Habitats: Moist lowland coastal plain bogs and savannahs in the southeastern U.S.

Online References:

Older scientific or horticultural names

Fothergilla gardenii description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.

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