White Meadowsweet vs Yellow Mountain Avens - TreeTime.ca

White Meadowsweet vs Yellow Mountain Avens

Dryas drummondii

Spiraea alba

CUSTOM GROW

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

Yellow Mountain Avens
White Meadowsweet

Yellow Mountain Avens is a native perennial wildflower with bright yellow buttercup-like blooms. The nectar-rich flowers attract a variety of pollinators, including bees and butterflies. By thriving at higher elevations, it helps sustain pollinator populations and provides one of the earliest sources of nectar and pollen in alpine habitats. After the blooms fade, the plant produces silky seed heads that begin as upright, compact tufts and gradually expand into rounded, fluffy clusters, adding texture and interest to the landscape.

As a nitrogen-fixing plant, Yellow Mountain Avens enriches soil fertility and supports the growth of surrounding vegetation. It forms dense, spreading mats of evergreen foliage that act as a groundcover and help stabilize soil. Often among the first species to establish in disturbed alpine sites such as glacial outwash or landslides, it is well-suited for alpine revegetation, erosion control, naturalization, and ecological restoration projects in harsh, rocky environments.

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.

Yellow Mountain Avens Quick Facts

White Meadowsweet Quick Facts

Zone: 1b
Zone: 3a
Height: 0.2 m (0.5 ft)
Height: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Spread: 0.3 m (1.0 ft)
Spread: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Light: full sun
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: dry, normal
Moisture: normal, wet
Growth rate: medium
Growth rate: fast
Life span: short
Life span: short
Growth form: mat-forming, creeping
Spreading: stolons - medium, seeds - low
Suckering: high


Foliage: evergreen, leathery
Fall colour: golden yellow
Flowers: yellow, buttercup-like, nodding
Flowers: white, small
Bloom time: spring to summer
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, BC, SK, ON, QC, NB, NL, YT, NT
Native to: AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NS, NB, NL, PE
Other Names: drummonds dryad, drummonds mountain avens, yellow dryad
Other Names: mead wort, meadowsweet, narrowleaf meadowsweet, pale bridewort, pipestem