Photo: Matilda Smith, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

White Wicky

Kalmia cuneata

Also called whitewicky, Chamaedaphne cuneata.

Creamy white cups banded in red in early June and scarlet leaves in fall, on the one deciduous cousin of mountain laurel, from Carolina bogs.

RareShowy flowersFall colorTolerates wet soil

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 2–5 ft
USDA zone: 8
Growth rate: Slow
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Average, Wet
Grows wild in: Stream banks, sandy barrens, swamps and wet flats
Native range: North Carolina and South Carolina See what is native in your state

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White wicky is a small, deciduous relative of mountain laurel found only in the Sandhills and inner coastal plain of the Carolinas, at the wet edges where pine uplands meet shrub bogs. It is the only one of its genus to shed its leaves in fall. NatureServe ranks it vulnerable worldwide and critically imperiled in South Carolina, where a single site remains. Unlike our mountain laurel, it flowers in small clusters along last year's shoots rather than at the tips. Fire once kept its bog edges open, and drainage and fire suppression are its main threats. Set it at the damp, sunny edge of a bog garden or pond, with our swamp azalea and honeycup, which share its wild ground.

Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as slow, like our mountain laurel, about a foot a year. It makes a thin, erect, sparsely branched shrub 2 to 5 feet tall.

Clusters of 3 to 10 cup-shaped flowers open from late May to mid June near the tips of last year's shoots. Each is creamy white with a red band inside, half an inch to three quarters across. Bees most likely pollinate them. The leaves turn scarlet before they fall.

It grows wild only in the Sandhills and inner coastal plain of North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina, where about 40 sites remain. Its home is the wet edge between longleaf pine uplands and the shrub bogs along creeks, and the rims of Carolina bays, where fire keeps the shrubs low.

How to grow White Wicky

White wicky wants full sun or light shade, like the burned bog edges where it grows wild. Taller shrubs that shade it crowd it out. It needs a wet to moist, very acid, sandy soil under a layer of organic matter, around pH 4 to 5. Set plants 3 feet apart and keep them 2 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, in early spring or fall, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and mulch with pine needles or leaves, clear of the stems. The seed is tiny and needs a cold spell. Keep it damp in the refrigerator for eight weeks, then sow it on the surface of moist peat at room temperature. Leave it uncovered in good light, which the seed of its relative mountain laurel needs.

Keep the soil moist through the first two summers, since it never wants to dry out. It spreads by underground stems. Cut back taller shrubs that shade it in winter, as fire once did.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, and its ten anthers sit in pockets in the petals until a visiting insect springs them. Its relative mountain laurel sets more seed with pollen from another plant, so plant two white wicky from different parents for seed. Its relatives mountain laurel and sheep laurel are highly poisonous if eaten, so treat it the same and keep it from grazing animals.

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

Sources (10)