# Sweetfern (Comptonia peregrina)

> Sweetfern, Comptonia peregrina: a shrub of 1 to 5 feet for zones 2 to 6, how fast it grows, where it grows wild, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/sweetfern/

![Sweetfern's narrow, deeply scalloped fernlike leaves radiating from a stem tip](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/sweetfern-1000.jpg?v=cfabd8e8 "Sweetfern in the Township of Huron Shores, Ontario. Its fernlike leaves belong to a low shrub, which blooms from April to June.")
*Photo: Fungus Guy, [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASweet-fern_(Huron_Shores).JPG))*

Shrub, 1 to 5 feet, zones 2 to 6; full sun or part shade; dry, average or wet ground.

We do not grow sweetfern, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Sweetfern |
| --- | --- |
| Form | Shrub |
| Height, feet | 1 to 5 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 8 |
| Zones | 2 to 6 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry, average or wet ground |
| Growth | Slow |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Wildlife value, nitrogen fixing, salt tolerant, erosion control |
| Flowers | April to June |
| Fruit | Nutlets, July to November |
| First crop | 2 to 3 years (sexual maturity) |
| Pollination | Not known whether one bears alone |
| Transplanting | The Morton Arboretum's page on sweetfern says: "May be difficult to transplant." |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Sandy barrens, dry uplands, old fields and edges |
| Native in | 24 states and the District of Columbia |

Sweetfern is native in 24 states and the District of Columbia: [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [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), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [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), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and NatureServe Explorer.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=sweetfern): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=sweetfern): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=sweetfern&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=sweetfern): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=sweetfern): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=sweetfern): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=sweetfern): the seed sowing planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=sweetfern): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its height](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=sweetfern): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores by the champion-tree formula](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=sweetfern): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Dangleberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/dangleberry/index.html.md) (*Gaylussacia frondosa*): shrub, 2 to 6 feet, zones 5 to 9. Shares sandy barrens, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Running Serviceberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/running-serviceberry/index.html.md) (*Amelanchier spicata*): shrub, 1 to 6 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares sandy barrens, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [New Jersey Tea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/new-jersey-tea/index.html.md) (*Ceanothus americanus*): shrub, 2 to 3 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares sandy barrens, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Prairie Redroot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/prairie-redroot/index.html.md) (*Ceanothus herbaceus*): shrub, 2 to 3 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares sandy barrens, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Hillside Blueberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/hillside-blueberry/index.html.md) (*Vaccinium pallidum*): shrub, 1 to 3 feet, zones 5 to 9. Shares sandy barrens, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Coral Bean](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/coral-bean/index.html.md) (*Erythrina herbacea*): shrub, 3 to 12 feet, zones 6 to 10. Shares sandy barrens, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Every companion of sweetfern in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=sweetfern)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, NC State Extension, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the University of Connecticut's plant database and the USDA PLANTS Database.