# Woolly Beach Heather (Hudsonia tomentosa)

> A gray, woolly evergreen mat of dunes and sand barrens that covers itself in tiny yellow flowers from May into July.

Also called beach heather, sand heather, beach heath, sand false heather, woolly hudsonia, povertygrass. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/woolly-beach-heather/

![Woolly beach heather (Hudsonia tomentosa) gray-green scaly shoots with small yellow flowers on sand](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/woolly-beach-heather-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Ryan Hodnett, CC BY-SA 4.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AWoolly_Beachheather_%28Hudsonia_tomentosa%29_-_Batchawana_Bay_Provincial_Park%2C_Ontario_2024-06-21.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 1 to 2 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 2 to 8
- Grows wild in: The coast, sandy barrens and dry uplands
- Native range: 21 states, north and west to North Dakota and south to North Carolina (Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin)
- Sun: Full
- Soil moisture: Dry
- Growth rate: Slow
- Traits: Rare, Evergreen, Showy flowers, Drought tolerant, 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

Woolly beach heather is a low, gray, mat-forming evergreen of the rockrose family. Its tiny, scale-like leaves lie pressed to the stems under a coat of white wool. It grows on open sand along the Atlantic coast and around the Great Lakes, and west across Canada to Alberta. Illinois, Iowa and Vermont list it as endangered. Connecticut, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire and North Carolina list it as threatened, and Ohio lists it as presumed extirpated. Its roots hold loose sand in place. It is fairly hard to grow and to establish in gardens. Plant it in full sun on dry, open sand, behind the dunes or in a sandy bed where nothing taller can shade it.

## Size, growth and what to expect

It grows slowly, and our growth estimator treats it as slow. It makes a low mound 3 to 8 inches tall and 1 to 2 feet across, and it forms spreading patches. A plant buried by blowing sand roots along its buried stems and grows up through the sand.

Bright yellow flowers about a quarter inch across crowd the tips of short side branches from May into July. Each flower opens in the morning, and its petals fall the same day. The tiny capsules ripen from July into September and shed their seed quickly. Bees and other pollinators visit the flowers for nectar.

It grows wild along the Atlantic coast from Labrador to North Carolina. Inland it grows on the dunes and sand plains of the Great Lakes, Minnesota and the Canadian prairies, west to Alberta. Its home is open, shifting sand in dunes and blowouts, beaches, pine barrens and sand barrens.

## How to grow Woolly Beach Heather

Woolly beach heather needs full sun on dry, open sand, and woody plants that shade it crowd it out. On the coast it grows behind the front dune, since it tolerates salt spray far less than the dune grasses do. Set plants 2 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 in spring or fall in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper, and put the sand back in. Give the seed 60 days cold and damp, the best of the chilling periods tried so far. Sow it in a mix of one part peat to two parts sand. It is fairly hard to raise, and one sowing gave little in the first two months.

Water it through dry spells until it is established. Do not step on it or drive over it, since trampling and vehicles harm it. Keep taller plants from spreading over it, because it needs open sand.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, and bees visit the flowers for nectar. No notable pest problems have been seen on it.

## Sources

- [USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet: Beach heather, Hudsonia tomentosa, Skaradek and Miller 2009](https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/factsheet/pdf/fs_huto.pdf)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 6: Hudsonia tomentosa](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250101240)
- [Native Plant Trust Plant Finder: Hudsonia tomentosa](https://plantfinder.nativeplanttrust.org/plant/Hudsonia-tomentosa)
- [Jersey-Friendly Yards: Hudsonia tomentosa](https://www.jerseyyards.org/plant/hudsonia-tomentosa/)
- [Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Rare Species Guide: Hudsonia tomentosa, beach heather, Welby Smith 2008 and 2018](https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/rsg/species-detail.html?id=9745)
- [Minnesota Wildflowers: Hudsonia tomentosa, Beach Heather](https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/shrub/beach-heather)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Hudsonia tomentosa](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=HUTO)
- [Go Botany, Native Plant Trust: Hudsonia tomentosa](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/hudsonia/tomentosa/)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Hudsonia tomentosa](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.154454/Hudsonia_tomentosa)
- [Native Plant Network: Skaradek 2001, propagation protocol for Hudsonia tomentosa seeds, USDA NRCS Cape May Plant Materials Center](https://npn.rngr.net/renderNPNProtocolDetails?selectedProtocolIds=cistaceae-hudsonia-1307)
- [Smreciu, Wood and Gould 2013: Hudsonia tomentosa, beach heather, woolly beach-heather, sand golden-heather, University of Alberta](https://doi.org/10.7939/r36d5pc8t)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society), from Bean: Hudsonia ericoides, with H. tomentosa](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/hudsonia/hudsonia-ericoides/)

## 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 bees: pollen, nectar, nesting and a bloom calendar from willow to witch hazel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-bees/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Woolly Beach Heather, add ?species=woolly-beach-heather with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=woolly-beach-heather&zone=2&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Woolly Beach Heather](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=woolly-beach-heather): 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=woolly-beach-heather
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Woolly Beach Heather 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=woolly-beach-heather
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Woolly Beach Heather 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=woolly-beach-heather:1
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Woolly Beach Heather flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.