# Swamp Doghobble (Eubotrys racemosa)

> Arching sprays of white bell flowers in May on a deciduous heath shrub for wet, acid ground in sun or part shade.

Also called fetterbush, swamp sweetbells, Leucothoe racemosa. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/swamp-doghobble/

![Swamp doghobble (Eubotrys racemosa) rows of white bell flowers beneath the leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/swamp-doghobble-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Fritzflohrreynolds, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eubotrys_racemosa_-_Swamp_doghobble_2.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 4 to 10 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 9
- Grows wild in: Stream banks, the coast, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: 18 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), [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), [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: Part, Shade, Full
- Soil moisture: Wet, Average
- Growth rate: Medium
- Flowers: April to June
- Fruit: Capsules, September to October
- First crop: 3 to 5 years after planting (first flowers, in full sun)
- Mature spread: 6 ft
- Traits: Showy flowers, Tolerates wet soil, Tolerates shade, Wildlife value, Erosion control
- 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 [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](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) 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.

In bundles: Wet Spot Pack.

## Notes

Swamp doghobble, also called fetterbush, is a coastal-plain shrub of wet woods and bog edges from Massachusetts to Louisiana. It grows best in sun or part shade on wet ground, and sources disagree on whether it takes deep shade. It turns red in fall. A good choice for the wet corner where rhododendrons rot. On a slope or a bank, the shrub helps keep the soil from washing away. At home in a bog garden, or massed under sweetbay and bald cypress on wet sand.

## Size, growth and what to expect

A shrub of the coastal plain from Massachusetts to Florida and west to Louisiana, swamp doghobble grows wild in swamps and along the shores of rivers, ponds and streams. Expect a medium pace, roughly a foot and a half of new height a year on an average site, the rate our growth estimator assumes for it. It stands 4 to 10 feet tall in a clump 2 to 6 feet wide, and it sends out suckers to form a colony. Fragrant white bells about a third of an inch long hang in sprays up to 4 inches long from April into June, and bees and butterflies work them.

The flowers give way to five-parted light brown capsules that ripen in September and October. In fall the leaves turn red, orange and yellow. It is poisonous to dogs, cats and horses, and deer leave it alone. Swamp sweetbells, its other name, describes the fragrant bell-shaped flowers. It does not stand drought or wind.

## How to grow Swamp Doghobble

Swamp doghobble takes wet, acid ground where most shrubs rot: a seep, a pond edge, low woods that stand in water after rain. It grows best in sun or part shade, and in full sun only where the soil never dries. The stems arch and the plant spreads by runners, so space it 4 feet apart with room to make a colony.

Saplings ship potted. Plant while the shrub is dormant. Heath shrubs have fine, shallow roots, so keep the root ball intact; set it in a hole three times as wide and no deeper, ball level with the ground, native soil back in. Sweet or limey soil is a reason to choose another plant, not to amend. Mulch with pine straw, thin near the stems. Seed is as fine as dust. Sow it on the surface of a moist, acid peat mix, uncovered, and keep it damp under a clear lid in good light. Seedlings are tiny and slow their first season, so leave them in the pot until they are big enough to handle.

Never let it dry out the first summer; water twice a week in heat unless the site is naturally wet. Deer and rabbits mostly skip the toxic foliage, so a guard is rarely needed. If a clump gets leggy, cut the oldest stems to the ground after bloom, since flowers come on last year's wood.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. If the leaves go pale between green veins, the soil needs to be more acid. The whole plant is poisonous, like its rhododendron cousins, so keep it from grazing animals.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Eubotrys racemosa](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/eubotrys-racemosa/)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Eubotrys racemosa](https://plantfinder.mobot.org/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=446191)
- [Go Botany, Native Plant Trust: Eubotrys racemosa](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/eubotrys/racemosa/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Eubotrys racemosa](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=EURA14)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Leucothoe racemosa (Eubotrys racemosa), Fetterbush](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.152174/Leucothoe_racemosa)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Eubotrys racemosa](https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/plant-profile/EURA14)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 8: Eubotrys racemosa](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250065697)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: swamp doghobble, Eubotrys racemosus](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=467)

## 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 floodplain trees survive high water](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/how-floodplain-trees-survive-high-water/index.html.md)
- [Native shrubs and trees deer usually leave alone, and why the lists disagree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-shrubs-and-trees-deer-leave-alone/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)

## Related

- Other sweetbells (Eubotrys) we grow: [Mountain Sweetbells](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mountain-sweetbells/index.html.md)
- Plants that share its sun and soil: [Sweet Pepperbush (Summersweet)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sweet-pepperbush/index.html.md), [Possumhaw Viburnum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/possumhaw-viburnum/index.html.md), [Swamp Azalea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/swamp-azalea/index.html.md) and [Maleberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/maleberry/index.html.md)
- Trees to plant it under: [Redbay](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/redbay/index.html.md), [Atlantic White Cedar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/atlantic-white-cedar/index.html.md) and [Pond Cypress](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pond-cypress/index.html.md)
- Same size, similar character: [Mountain Sweetbells](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mountain-sweetbells/index.html.md), [Sweetshrub](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sweetshrub/index.html.md), [Possumhaw](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/possumhaw/index.html.md) and [Clusterspike Indigobush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/clusterspike-indigobush/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Swamp Doghobble, add ?species=swamp-doghobble 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=swamp-doghobble&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Swamp Doghobble](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=swamp-doghobble): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Swamp Doghobble as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=swamp-doghobble (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Swamp Doghobble 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=swamp-doghobble (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 Swamp Doghobble needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 1 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=swamp-doghobble:1
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Swamp Doghobble 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=swamp-doghobble&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 Swamp Doghobble 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=swamp-doghobble&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Swamp Doghobble 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=swamp-doghobble