# Groundsel Bush (Baccharis halimifolia)

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

Also called groundsel tree, sea myrtle, eastern baccharis. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/groundsel-bush/

![Groundsel bush (Baccharis halimifolia) female shrub covered in silvery-white fluffy seed heads in fall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/groundsel-bush-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Halpaugh, Public domain · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABaccharis_halimifolia_bush.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 5 to 12 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 10
- Grows wild in: The coast, swamps and wet flats, old fields and edges
- Native range: 20 states and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC), north to [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), south to [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL) and west to [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Oklahoma](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC))
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Wet, Average, Dry
- Growth rate: Fast
- Flowers: August to October
- Fruit: Seeds, October to December
- First crop: 2 to 3 years
- Mature spread: 10 ft
- Traits: Salt tolerant, Tolerates wet soil, Hedge or screen, Drought tolerant, Wildlife value, Honey tree
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

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

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their height and age are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

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.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Baccharis halimifolia](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/baccharis-halimifolia/)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Baccharis halimifolia](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=366359)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Baccharis halimifolia](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=BAHA)
- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Baccharis halimifolia](https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-reviews/bachal)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 20: Baccharis halimifolia](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250066181)
- [USDA NRCS Plant Guide: Groundsel tree, Baccharis halimifolia (Nesom)](https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_baha.pdf)
- [USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet: Eastern baccharis, Baccharis halimifolia (New Jersey State Office and Cape May Plant Materials Center)](https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/factsheet/pdf/fs_baha.pdf)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Baccharis chapter (Karrfalt and Olson)](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Baccharis.pdf)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Baccharis halimifolia](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/BAHA)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Baccharis halimifolia, Eastern Baccharis](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.154061/Baccharis_halimifolia)

## 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)
- [How fast every tree and shrub we grow gets tall: growth rate, A to Z](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/growth-rates/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)

## Related

- Trees to plant it under: [Pond Cypress](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pond-cypress/index.html.md), [Black Gum (Tupelo)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-gum/index.html.md) and [American Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-elm/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Groundsel Bush, add ?species=groundsel-bush with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 5, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=groundsel-bush&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Groundsel Bush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=groundsel-bush): 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 for Groundsel Bush as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=groundsel-bush (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Groundsel Bush is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=groundsel-bush (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Groundsel Bush needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 5 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=groundsel-bush:5
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Groundsel Bush where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=groundsel-bush&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Groundsel Bush goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=groundsel-bush&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Groundsel Bush flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=groundsel-bush