# White Wicky (Kalmia 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.

Also called whitewicky, Chamaedaphne cuneata. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/white-wicky/

![White wicky (Kalmia cuneata) botanical plate of white cup flowers ringed in red on leafy shoots](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/white-wicky-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Matilda Smith, Public domain · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AKalmia_cuneata_136-8319.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 2 to 5 ft
- USDA hardiness zone: 8
- Grows wild in: Stream banks, sandy barrens, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: North Carolina and South Carolina
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Wet, Average
- Growth rate: Slow
- Traits: Rare, Showy flowers, Fall color, Tolerates wet soil
- 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

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.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 8: Kalmia cuneata](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250065668)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Kalmia cuneata](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.161229/Kalmia_cuneata)
- [Center for Plant Conservation: White-wicky plant profile](https://saveplants.org/plant-profile/2382/Kalmia-cuneata/White-wicky/)
- [Baskin and Baskin 2002, propagation protocol for Kalmia cuneata, Native Plant Network](https://npn.rngr.net/renderNPNProtocolDetails?selectedProtocolIds=ericaceae-kalmia-1951)
- [North Carolina Native Plant Society: Kalmia cuneata](https://plants.ncwildflower.org/plant_galleries/details/kalmia-cuneata)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Kalmia cuneata](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=KACU)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society), from Bean: Kalmia cuneata](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/kalmia/kalmia-cuneata/)
- [North Carolina Natural Heritage Program: List of Rare Plant Species of North Carolina 2024, revised 2025-11-03](https://www.ncnhp.org/media/831/open)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 8: Kalmia, the genus treatment](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=116931)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Kalmia latifolia and Kalmia angustifolia](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/kalmia-latifolia/)

## 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)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for butterflies and moths: host plants first, nectar second](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-butterflies-and-moths/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on White Wicky, add ?species=white-wicky with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=white-wicky&zone=8&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for White Wicky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=white-wicky): 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=white-wicky
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how White Wicky 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=white-wicky
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what White Wicky 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=white-wicky:2
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months White Wicky flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.