Photo: David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mountain Doghobble

Leucothoe fontanesiana

Also called highland doghobble, drooping leucothoe, drooping laurel, switch ivy, Leucothoe editorum.

Arching evergreen stems hung with sprays of waxy white bells in spring, from the thicket shrub of southern Appalachian stream banks.

EvergreenShowy flowersTolerates shadeWinter interestErosion control

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 3–6 ft
USDA zones: 4–8
Growth rate: Medium
Sun: Part, Shade
Soil moisture: Average, Wet
Grows wild in: Stream banks, the Appalachians, rich moist slopes and the forest understory
Native range: Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia Also recorded in 5 other states, outside its native range. See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Mountain doghobble is the evergreen doghobble of the southern Appalachians, often growing beneath rosebay rhododendron. Its arching stems rise like a fountain, and it spreads underground into dense thickets. Those thickets once snared hunting dogs and horses, which is how it earned the names doghobble and fetterbush. Unlike our swamp doghobble, a deciduous shrub of coastal swamps, it keeps its glossy leaves all year. Virginia's natural heritage program tracks it as rare at the north end of its range. Use it to cover a shady bank or to edge a woodland path beside rhododendrons, where its thickets hold the soil.

Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator uses the medium rate of our swamp doghobble, about a foot and a half a year. It forms an arching mound 3 to 6 feet tall and 4 to 8 feet wide.

Racemes 2 to 3 inches long of waxy, white, urn-shaped flowers hang from the leaf axils from late April into June, with a pungent scent. The new shoots are red, and the leaves turn reddish bronze in fall and bronze-purple in winter. The capsules ripen in mid to late fall.

It grows wild in the southern Appalachians from Virginia and Tennessee south to Georgia and Alabama. Its home is woods along mountain streams, ravines and moist slopes. It also grows wild in Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, beyond its native range. The Massachusetts, New York and Kentucky plants are introduced.

How to grow Mountain Doghobble

Mountain doghobble grows best in part shade and takes full shade. It grows in sun only where the soil stays moist. It wants a moist, cool, acid soil rich in organic matter. Clay, loam or sand will do, and it takes ground that is wet at times. Shelter it from drying winter wind, and give it moving air, since still, humid air brings leaf spot. Set plants 4 feet apart and keep them 4 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship potted. Plant them in spring, in a hole wider than the root ball and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and mulch with leaves or pine needles, clear of the stems. The seed is dust-fine and needs light, with no chilling. Sow it on the surface of a damp, fine mix, uncovered, under a clear cover in good light. Warm days and cool nights speed it up, and most comes up within four weeks.

Water weekly through the first two summers, since it will not stand drought. Deer seldom browse it, so it rarely needs a cage. It flowers on last year's stems, so prune right after bloom. An old, leggy clump can be cut to the ground in spring to renew it.

Mountain doghobble carries both male and female parts in each flower, and bees and butterflies visit it. A plant sets seed with its own pollen, so one shrub bears alone. Leaf spot is its main trouble where air is still and humid, and winter sun and wind can scorch the leaves. The leaves and flowers are highly poisonous if eaten, to people and to dogs, cats and horses.

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

Sources (11)