# Minnie-bush (Rhododendron pilosum) > Small nodding bells of greenish white flushed with red in late spring, on an upright mountain shrub with hairy leaves and shreddy bark. Also called minniebush, hairy minnie-bush, Menziesia pilosa, Azalea pilosa. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/minnie-bush/ ![Minnie-bush (Rhododendron pilosum) nodding yellowish bells flushed with red on slender stalks](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/minnie-bush-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: NPS Photo, Public domain ยท [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMenziesia_pilosa_%281ae89c27-155d-451f-670b-c07faafd9b98%29.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Shrub - Mature height: 3 to 6 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 7 - Grows wild in: The Appalachians, rocky ground and dry uplands - Native range: 8 states, north to Pennsylvania, south to Georgia and west to Tennessee (Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia) - Sun: Part, Full - Soil moisture: Average, Dry - Growth rate: Slow - Traits: Rare, 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 Minnie-bush is a deciduous shrub of the southern and central Appalachians, from southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia, on heath balds, bogs and rocky summits. Botanists long kept it in its own genus, Menziesia, until DNA work placed it among the rhododendrons. Tennessee lists it as a species of special concern, and Pennsylvania lists it as rare. Each leaf ends in a tiny whitish point, and the old bark hangs in shreds. Set it on a sunny, rocky slope or in a peaty bed with azaleas, where its hanging bells can be seen up close. ## Size, growth and what to expect No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as slow, like our pinxterbloom azalea, about a foot a year. It makes a rigid, upright shrub 3 to 6 feet tall, and the bark of older stems hangs in loose shreds. Small nodding bells open with the new leaves from May into July, a quarter to a third of an inch long, yellowish white to greenish and flushed with red. They hang on slender stalks in small clusters at the ends of last year's shoots. The glandular capsules ripen from August to October. It grows wild in the mountains from southern Pennsylvania and western Maryland through Virginia and West Virginia to eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina and northeastern Georgia. Its home is heath balds, bogs, rocky summits and rocky woods, mostly at high elevations. ## How to grow Minnie-bush Minnie-bush takes full sun or light shade, and it wants more sun than most rhododendrons. Give it a moist but well-drained, acid soil, loamy or peaty, with no lime. Set plants 4 feet apart and keep them 3 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires. Saplings ship potted. Plant dormant plants in early spring or fall, in a hole three times as wide as the root ball and no deeper. Set the top of the ball a little above grade, put the native soil back in, and mulch with pine needles or leaves, kept off the stems. The seed is tiny and needs light but no chilling. Sow it in winter on the surface of damp milled sphagnum, uncovered, under a clear cover at room temperature. Seedlings come up in one to three weeks. Water weekly through the first two summers. Prune, if at all, right after bloom, since the flowers come at the ends of last year's shoots. Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. Rhododendrons are poisonous if eaten, so treat minnie-bush the same. ## Sources - [Flora of North America, vol. 8: Menziesia pilosa](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250065632) - [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society), from Bean: Rhododendron pilosum](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-pilosum/) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Menziesia pilosa](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=MEPI2) - [North Carolina Native Plant Society: Rhododendron pilosum](https://plants.ncwildflower.org/plant_galleries/details/rhododendron-pilosum) - [NatureServe Explorer: Menziesia pilosa](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.136165/Menziesia_pilosa) - [Tennessee Natural Heritage Program: Rare Plant List](https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/environment/natural-areas/documents/na_tn-rare-plant-list.pdf) - [Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program: Species and Natural Features List](https://www.naturalheritage.state.pa.us/SpeciesFeatures.aspx) - [Georgia Biodiversity Portal: Minniebush](https://georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/profile?group=plants&es_id=17393) - [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Rhododendron chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Rhododendron.pdf) - [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Rhododendron, the genus page](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/rhododendron/) ## 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 Minnie-bush, add ?species=minnie-bush with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=minnie-bush&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Minnie-bush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=minnie-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 itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=minnie-bush - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Minnie-bush 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=minnie-bush - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Minnie-bush 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=minnie-bush:1 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Minnie-bush flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.