It has been written that upon approaching our shores shipmen of old would take great pleasure in the sweet perfume of Clethra alnifolia that traveled over the waves to welcome them home. The fragrance certainly carries: you can smell the small colony of summersweet growing on Blackwater Pond from the Beech Forest parking lot, well before the trail leads you to the bottlebrush blooms responsible for it. Clethra’s not, though, just a sailor’s delight: the native shrub hosts at least 11 species of Lepidoptera, attracts an array of pollinators, and reliably greets the home gardener every midsummer.
