Photo: Halpaugh, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Groundsel Bush

Baccharis halimifolia

Also called groundsel tree, sea myrtle, eastern baccharis.

A fast native shrub for salt spray and wet ground on the coast, whose female plants turn silvery in fall with plumed seeds.

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Saplings ship bare-root or in a pot, usually 12 to 18 inches tall, in the dormant season, and their height and age are stated here with the price, once available.

We grow it as saplings and seed. One email when it is listed with prices, and nothing else. Or ask, and we reply with what is ready now. Live plants ship February to May and October to November.

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Salt tolerantTolerates wet soilHedge or screenDrought tolerantWildlife valueHoney tree

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 5–12 ft
USDA zones: 5–10
Growth rate: Fast
Flowers: August to October
Fruit: Seeds, October to December
First crop: 2 to 3 years
Mature spread: 10 ft
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Dry, Average, Wet
Grows wild in: The coast, swamps and wet flats, old fields and edges
Native range: 20 states and the District of Columbia, north to New York, south to Florida and west to Texas
List all 21
Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and the District of Columbia
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Groundsel bush is a native shrub of salt marsh edges, beaches and wet fields on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the only eastern member of the aster family that reaches tree size. It is one of the few eastern shrubs that stand salt spray at the shore. It spreads readily from wind-borne seed and can turn weedy in gardens and pastures. Where it was planted in Europe and Australia, it has become an invasive weed. Use it as a quick hedge or screen at the shore, or along a ditch, a pond or a rain garden.

Size, growth and what to expect

Groundsel bush grows fast, nearly three feet a year in our growth estimator. It makes a rounded, many-branched shrub 5 to 12 feet tall and 4 to 10 feet wide, and a plant can be trained to a single trunk as a small tree. Its leaves often hang on into winter, and the bare stems stay slightly green.

Small flower heads crowd the branch tips from August into October, yellowish on the males and white on the females. In October and November the female plants turn silvery as their seeds ripen under plumes of white bristles, which carry them far on the wind. Birds eat the seeds and nest in the dense branches.

It grows wild along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Massachusetts to Florida and Texas. Inland it reaches Arkansas, Oklahoma and the Piedmont, and it grows in Mexico and the West Indies too. Its home is the edges of salt and brackish marshes, beaches, wet fields, ditches and old fields. NatureServe ranks it imperiled in Rhode Island, at the north end of its range.

How to grow Groundsel Bush

Groundsel bush grows best in full sun and takes part shade. It takes sand or clay and poor or wet ground. It stands flooding, brackish water and salt spray, and once rooted it rides out drought. Set it 5 feet from a wall, and set plants 4 feet apart for a hedge. 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. The tiny seed needs light to sprout, so press it onto a sandy mix and do not cover it. Sow it in fall or early spring and keep it moist, and it comes up in one to two weeks. Cuttings taken in summer root too.

Water weekly through the first summer if rain is short. Cut a leggy hedge back hard, since it regrows quickly even from the base. Pull seedlings that come up where they are not wanted, since weed killers do little.

Plants are male or female, and only females bear the silvery seed heads. The wind carries its pollen, and bees and small butterflies feed at the male flowers. Its wood is brittle, and native leaf beetles can strip the leaves in fall. Its pollen is believed to cause allergies. The leaves and seeds are poisonous, and livestock that eat much of the foliage can be poisoned.

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

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