Main Street Mount Joy Planters: Mountain Witchalder

This article is the fifth in a series of eleven, featuring details about the native plants that can be found in the plant containers Green Man Enviroscaping LLC installed and maintains for Main Street Mount Joy.

I learn a lot when I write these ~ that's always been one of the best, if selfish, things about teaching. When you teach someone else, you learn something. Here I was, all prepared to do a really terrible joke about how the scientific name of the fothergilla was so obscure and difficult... but it turns out Fothergilla major has a common name that is not identical to the first part of its scientific name. So my little (as in not-really-existant) joke is ruined, and still I insist on using it...

So, after using it in landscapes for almost a decade, I learn that "fothergilla" has a common name, and from now on, I'll be able to tell clients that the mountain witchalder would be a great fit for their shrub border, and they won't make the same curious expression they did when I told them that the fothergilla would work well there.

The mountain witchalder is a medium to large sized deciduous shrub with good Autumnal colors and fragrant spring flowers. It also has one exceptional trait that helps it look better but you don't necessarily notice when you look at it: it is fairly problem-free when it comes to disease and insect pests.

Along Main Street in Mount Joy, the mountain witchalder can be found as the centerpiece in the planters near the Higher Grounds Cafe, Pub Dunegal, and Bube's Brewery.

The fragrant white flowers of the mountain witchalder bloom in April to May, and have a bottlebrush-like appearance. The flowers are very ornamental and can provide a nice backdrop to a large flower bed.

With its six to twelve foot size (in both height and width), it can make a good choice for a hedge. It has a tendency to sucker, and will spread into a colony if allowed to ~ if you keep it in line, it will help thicken up and add some self-repairing to the hedge. A tolerance for shade helps this shrub do well in both hedge form (when it's shaded by the other plants in the row) or when it's used up against a house in a foundation border, although both flowers and foliage will be showier with more sun.

The foliage tend to be a blueish green, adding additional color interest, with a leathery texture. The leaves turn a variety of colors in the Autumn, with yellows, oranges, reds, and purples. Although the colors might vary per plant, and perhaps with the growing conditions, some have reported that the species itself has better color than the named varieties.

Resources
Check out the mountain witchalder on the USDA PLANTS database here, on the Missouri Botanical Garden's Kemper Center for Home Gardening here, and at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin here ~ all three provide excellent resources for plants, particularly in identifying or finding natives.

If you'd like to learn if and where the mountain witchalder can fit into your home landscape, please contact Green Man Enviroscaping LLC and we'd be happy to help you!