# Swamp Privet (Forestiera acuminata)

> A native of swamps and wet woods whose yellow flowers open on bare branches in early spring, followed on female trees by purple fruit that ducks eat.

Also called eastern swamp privet. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/swamp-privet/

![Swamp privet (Forestiera acuminata) clusters of yellow-green flowers on bare branches in early spring](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/swamp-privet-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AForestiera_acuminata.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Small tree
- Mature height: 8 to 30 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 6 to 9
- Grows wild in: Floodplain forests, stream banks, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: 15 states, north to Illinois, south to Florida and west to Texas (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas)
- Sun: Part, Full
- Soil moisture: Wet, Average
- Growth rate: Medium
- Traits: Tolerates wet soil, Wildlife value, Showy flowers, 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

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

Swamp privet is a native shrub or small tree of the olive family, not one of the Ligustrum privets that escape from hedges, some of them invasive. It grows in swamps, sloughs and low, wet woods, and its twigs can take root where they touch the mud. The Missouri botanist Julian Steyermark urged people to plant it for its early bloom, but it has not caught on. It also helps keep a streambank from washing away. Plant it at the edge of a pond, in a wet ditch or in a low corner that stays soggy.

## Size, growth and what to expect

No source we read rates its growth, so our growth estimator uses its middle figure, about a foot and a half a year. Expect a spreading shrub or small tree of 8 to 30 feet.

Yellow flower clusters open along the bare branches in late March and April, before the leaves. They feed bees and other insects just out of winter. Female trees ripen purple, olive-like fruit half an inch to an inch long in June. Songbirds and nesting waterfowl eat it, and it is a good wild duck food.

It grows wild from South Carolina and Florida west to eastern Texas, and north to southern Indiana and Illinois, Missouri, southeastern Kansas and Oklahoma. It is most common in the Mississippi Valley. NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in Kansas, at the edge of its range.

## How to grow Swamp Privet

Swamp privet grows best in wet ground, in part shade or sun. It takes soggy soil and even standing water. It spreads into a small colony from its roots, so give it room at the water's edge. Plant it 15 feet from a wall and at least 15 feet from overhead wires, and set trees 10 feet apart.

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 root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Sow the ripe fruit as soon as it falls in June, pulp and all. It sprouts within a few days. Give the seedlings sun, and in the North shelter them through their first winter.

Water weekly through the first summer unless the ground stays wet. Deer and rabbits browse young trees, so cage them for the first two or three years. Cut root sprouts at the ground wherever you want a single trunk rather than a thicket.

Trees are male or female, and only females bear fruit, so plant three or more seedlings for a male and a female. A planting grown only for the flowers can be all males, which carry the showier bloom. None of the sources we read names a serious pest or disease.

## Sources

- [Missouri Department of Conservation, Field Guide: Swamp Privet, Forestiera acuminata](https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/swamp-privet)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Forestiera acuminata](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=FOAC)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online: Forestiera acuminata, from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/forestiera/forestiera-acuminata/)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Forestiera acuminata, eastern swamp-privet](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.149211/Forestiera_acuminata)
- [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: sugarberry (Kennedy 1990)](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/sugarberry)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), F and G genera](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm%202008/F%26G%20genera.pdf)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Forestiera acuminata](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/FOAC)
- [Atlas of Florida Plants, USF Institute for Systematic Botany: Forestiera acuminata](https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/plant/species/899)

## 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)
- [Multistem or single stem? Sometimes the trunk is hiding the answer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/multistem-or-single-stem/index.html.md)
- [Leaf litter, not wood chips, under the canopy](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/leaf-litter-not-wood-chips/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for birds: caterpillars, fruit, mast, nests and winter cover, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-birds/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Swamp Privet, add ?species=swamp-privet with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=swamp-privet&zone=6&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Swamp Privet](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=swamp-privet): 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=swamp-privet
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Swamp Privet 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=swamp-privet
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Swamp Privet 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=swamp-privet:3
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Swamp Privet flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.