Smooth Sumac vs White Meadowsweet - TreeTime.ca

Smooth Sumac vs White Meadowsweet

Rhus glabra

Spiraea alba

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

Smooth Sumac
White Meadowsweet

Smooth Sumac is an excellent shrub for both its ornamental appeal and tolerance of difficult planting sites. You'll love the attractive pyramidal spikes of hairy, red berries that emerge on female plants and the fern-like foliage that covers both male and female varieties.

Ensure you give Smooth Sumac enough space to spread out due to its high suckering nature. While not ideal for small, urban yards, this shrub will make a stunning border along a woodland edge or roadside.

Note:These plants typically reach maturity and make their sex easily known (females producing fruit) in their 3rd or 4th year of growth. Our seedlings are too young to identify their sex.

White Meadowsweet is a woody, deciduous shrub that begins to bloom in early summer with small white and pink flowers. Its foliage turns from a light green into an attractive golden-yellow later in the fall.

The White Meadowsweet, also known as Mead-Wort or Bride-Wort, is favored by birds and butterflies but is largely ignored by deer. They produce small brown berries in the summer, and while they are technically edible, they are not sweet and are more desired by wildlife.

Smooth Sumac Quick Facts

White Meadowsweet Quick Facts

Zone: 3a
Zone: 3a
Height: 2.4 m (8 ft)
Height: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Spread: 2.1 m (7 ft)
Spread: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: dry, normal
Moisture: normal, wet
Growth rate: fast
Growth rate: fast
Life span: medium
Life span: short
Suckering: high
Suckering: high
Maintenance: medium


Foliage: long, thin
Fall colour: scarlet red
Fall colour: golden yellow
Flowers: white, small
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: BC, SK, MB, ON
Native to: AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NS, NB, NL, PE
Other Names: mead wort, meadowsweet, narrowleaf meadowsweet, pale bridewort, pipestem