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Godfrey's Swamp Privet

Forestiera godfreyi

Also called Godfrey's wild privet, Godfrey's privet.

A rare native privet of wooded limestone bluffs and shell mounds, whose golden flower clusters open in midwinter, earlier than any other native privet.

RareShowy flowers

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 8–16 ft
USDA zones: 8–9
Growth rate: Medium
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Average
Grows wild in: Rich moist slopes, the forest understory, rocky ground and the coast
Native range: Florida, Georgia and South Carolina See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Godfrey's swamp privet is a deciduous shrub of the olive family with arching or leaning stems, described as a new species in 1985. Despite its name, it is an upland plant, unlike our swamp privet of wet woods. It is rare everywhere it grows, known from about 30 sites. Florida and Georgia list it as endangered, and Georgia knows a single stand, in a coastal state park. Set it at a sunny or lightly shaded woodland edge on limestone or shell soil, where its arching stems have room to spread.

Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as a medium grower, like our swamp privet, about a foot and a half a year. It makes a shrub or small tree of 8 to 16 feet, and it tends to form thickets. Its opposite leaves are 2 to 3 inches long, toothed above the middle and hairy beneath.

Flowers open from mid-January to mid-February, earlier than any other native privet. Male and female flowers grow on separate plants, in tight clusters held close to the stem, the males with bushy golden stamens. The fruit ripens quickly, from late April into early May, a waxy dark blue oval up to half an inch long.

It grows wild across north Florida, south to Marion and Sumter counties, and in one Georgia county and three South Carolina counties near the coast. Its homes are wooded bluffs above lakes and rivers, hammocks over limestone, and maritime forest on old shell mounds. NatureServe ranks it imperiled, with perhaps 1,000 to 2,500 plants left.

How to grow Godfrey's Swamp Privet

Godfrey's swamp privet grows in light shade or full sun. Give it a moist soil that drains well, and once established it takes short dry spells. In the wild it grows over limestone or on shell. It does not take salty wind. Set plants 8 feet apart and keep them 8 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. It is sown as swamp privet is. Sow the ripe fruit as soon as it turns dark blue in late spring, pulp and all.

Water weekly through the first summer and in dry spells until it is established. Where deer are common, cage young plants for their first winters. Pull out any Chinese privet and nandina nearby, since those invaders crowd it in the wild.

Plants are male or female, and only females bear fruit, so plant three or more seedlings for a male and a female. Its flower clusters look like single showy flowers, which suggests that insects carry the pollen.

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

Sources (10)