Clethra tomentosa ‘Woodlander's Sarah’ Allen Bush bristly-leaved stems carry clusters of

bristly-leaved stems carry clusters of intense cobalt-blue flowers

opening slowly from the bottom up and often flushing pink or purple as the flowers age

fills the great majority of the spice jars labeled simply cinnamon

Summersweet has long been a shrub gardeners plant by the nose

Clethra tomentosa ‘Woodlander's Sarah’ Allen Bush bristly-leaved stems carry clusters ofThe summersweets are among the most fragrant of American shrubs, and the southern woolly summersweet, Clethra tomentosa, carries the whole tribe's gifts: colonies of upright stems in moist, acid ground, and terminal spikes of white flowers that pour a honey and clove perfume across the July garden. Country people knew the plant as Sweet Pepperbush, for the peppercorn seed heads, and the crushed flowers even raise a soft lather once used as a woodland