Summersweet ‘Sixteen Candles’

* Common name: Summersweet ‘Sixteen Candles’

* Botanical name: Clethra alnifolia ‘Sixteen Candles’

* What it is: A native flowering shrub that produces upright, candle-like, 6-inch-long white flower spires in July and August. Flowers are sweetly fragrant and attractive to bees and butterflies. Yellow fall foliage.

* Size: 4 feet tall, 3 to 4 feet wide.

* Where to use: Good compact shrub for any shady or part-shade and damp location. But will also tolerate full sun if soil is kept moist. Good choice for east and north foundations and butterfly gardens.

* Care: If needed for size control, cut back by up to one-half at end of winter. Will colonize by spreading roots, but if you don’t want it spreading, shovel out the roots any time. Fertilize with a scattering of acidifying granular organic fertilizer such as Holly-tone or Holly Care in early spring. Soak weekly in a drought.

* Great partner: Sweetbox is a good evergreen underplanting that flowers in spring. Leadwort or pink lamium are good perennial groundcover partners.