# Climbing Fetterbush (Pieris phillyreifolia)

> The only climbing heath in the country, an evergreen that runs up inside cypress bark and hangs white bells from winter into spring.

Also called vine-wicky, climbing heather, climbing pieris, Andromeda phillyreifolia. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/climbing-fetterbush/

![Climbing fetterbush (Pieris phillyreifolia) botanical plate of a leafy branch with white bell flowers](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/climbing-fetterbush-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Sarah Anne Drake, Public domain · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AEdwards's_botanical_register_%28Plate_36%29_%288610258492%29.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 1 to 3 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 8 to 9
- Grows wild in: Sandy barrens, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina
- Sun: Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Wet
- Growth rate: Slow
- Traits: Rare, Evergreen, Showy flowers
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Climbing fetterbush is an evergreen heath of cypress ponds and cedar swamps from South Carolina to the Florida panhandle and Mississippi. It is the only heath in the United States that climbs. Flat underground stems run up inside the fibrous bark of pond cypress or Atlantic white cedar and send out leafy branches as high as 30 feet. Where no such tree stands near, it grows as a low shrub that forms clones. It is common in the Florida panhandle but rare elsewhere, and NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in South Carolina and Mississippi. Grow it as a low evergreen at the damp edge of a pond, or train it up a post or arbor.

## Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as slow, like our mountain fetterbush, about a foot a year. Grown free, it is a shrub 1 to 3 feet tall that spreads by underground stems. Beside a pond cypress or white cedar it climbs inside the bark to 30 feet, putting out branches as it goes.

White, narrow bells about a third of an inch long hang in short sprays from December into May. The leathery, blunt leaves carry a few teeth near the tip. Early spring insects visit the flowers.

It grows wild on the coastal plain from southeastern South Carolina through Georgia and northern Florida, west across the Florida panhandle and southern Alabama to the corner of Mississippi. Its home is cypress ponds, Atlantic white cedar and hardwood swamps, and wet hollows in pine flatwoods.

## How to grow Climbing Fetterbush

Climbing fetterbush wants part sun on moist, sandy, acid soil. Keep it out of standing water and out of hot, dry ground, and give it shelter from hard frost. It does poorly with disturbance and with fire. Set plants 3 feet apart and keep them 2 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship potted. Plant them in spring or fall, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and mulch with pine needles or leaves, clear of the stems. Seed of its relative mountain fetterbush needs no chilling, so sow it on the surface of a damp, fine mix at room temperature, in daylight. The seedlings of the genus grow very slowly at first.

Keep the soil moist through the first two summers, since it does not stand drought. Grown free it stays a low, spreading shrub. Pruning keeps it compact, or tie the long shoots to a post or arbor.

Each flower carries both male and female parts. Its relative Japanese pieris sets seed with its own pollen, so one plant should bear seed alone. Its relatives mountain fetterbush and Japanese pieris are highly poisonous if eaten, so treat it the same.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 8: Pieris phillyreifolia](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250065684)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Pieris phillyreifolia](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.152000/Pieris_phillyreifolia)
- [Florida Native Plant Society: Pieris phyllyreifolia](https://www.fnps.org/plant/pieris-phyllyreifolia)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Pieris phillyreifolia](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PIPH)
- [Alabama Natural Heritage Program: Alabama Inventory List 2023](https://cosam.auburn.edu/biology/alnhp/_assets/2023_trackinglist.pdf)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Pieris chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Pieris.pdf)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Pieris floribunda and Pieris japonica](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/pieris-floribunda/)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for bees: pollen, nectar, nesting and a bloom calendar from willow to witch hazel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-bees/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Climbing Fetterbush, add ?species=climbing-fetterbush with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=climbing-fetterbush&zone=8&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Climbing Fetterbush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=climbing-fetterbush): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=climbing-fetterbush
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Climbing Fetterbush is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=climbing-fetterbush
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Climbing Fetterbush needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=climbing-fetterbush:1
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Climbing Fetterbush flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.