Photo: Steve Law, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mountain Witch Alder

Fothergilla major

Also called large fothergilla, large witch alder, Fothergilla latifolia.

Honey-scented white bottlebrush flowers in April and leaves that turn yellow, orange and red in fall, on a rare shrub of southern mountains.

Showy flowersFall colorRare

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 6–10 ft
USDA zones: 4–8
Growth rate: Slow
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Average
Grows wild in: Rocky ground, the Appalachians, dry uplands and stream banks
Native range: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Mountain witch alder is a rounded, many-stemmed shrub of the witch hazel family whose flowers have no petals, only a brush of white stamens. It is rare wherever it grows, and NatureServe ranks it vulnerable. Georgia and Tennessee list it as a threatened plant. The NC State Extension now lists it as Fothergilla latifolia, while the USDA keeps the name Fothergilla major. Grow it at a sunny woodland edge or in a border with rhododendrons, which want the same acid soil.

Size, growth and what to expect

Mountain witch alder grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. It makes a rounded clump of upright stems 6 to 10 feet tall and 5 to 10 feet wide.

In April, as the leaves unfold, spikes 1 to 3 inches long open at the branch tips. Their color comes from white stamens with yellow anthers, and they smell of honey. Bees and butterflies visit them. In fall the leaves turn yellow, orange and red-purple. The capsules ripen in fall and burst to fling their two seeds.

It grows wild from the mountains and upper Piedmont of North Carolina south to Alabama, with outlying stands in Arkansas, a recent find. Its home is bluffs, dry rocky woods, talus slopes and riverbanks, from about 500 to 4,300 feet up.

How to grow Mountain Witch Alder

Mountain witch alder flowers and colors best in full sun, and it takes part shade. Where summers are hot, morning sun with afternoon shade suits it better. It wants an acid soil, rich in organic matter, that stays moist but drains well, and its leaves yellow in limy soil. Plant it 5 feet from a wall and set plants 6 feet apart for a hedge or group. Its size lets it 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 spread a mulch of leaves over the shallow roots, clear of the stems. Seed needs at least six months of warm, damp conditions and then three months of cold. Sow it outdoors in fall, and expect seedlings the second spring.

Water weekly through the first two summers, and in any dry spell after that. Deer seldom damage it, but rabbits and voles can gnaw young stems, so guard them with wire for two winters. Prune only if needed, right after the flowers fade. Pull suckers that stray from the clump.

Its flowers carry both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. No serious insect troubles it. A leaf spot fungus found on fothergillas in South Carolina can strip plants in hot, full sun by late summer.

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

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