Walking around Niles Pond at this time of year you can’t helped but be knocked out by the fabulous combined scent of the blooming Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) and Rosa rugosa. Summersweet, also know as Honeysweet and Sweet Pepperbush, is the large shrub that densely lines both sides of Niles Pond Road. With racemes that look like bottlebrushes, the many florets provide nectar for dozens of species of pollinators, of all sizes. The tiniest winged wonders attracted to the panicles provide sustenance to hummingbirds and I often see them zipping in and out of the Clethra blossoms, too.
The Summersweet shrubs growing so closely together creates a “Wall of Fragrance,” which always reminds me of Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound,” where his musical arrangements called for multi tracking multiple instruments, creating “symphonic saturation.” Niles Pond right now is a symphonic saturation of sweet summer scents – GO!
The following is an excerpt from a book that I wrote back in 2004-2007, which was published by David R. Godine in 2009. The book is about designing landscape habitats for wild creatures and for people, titled Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities: Notes from a Gloucester Garden, and all that I wrote then, still holds true to day.
“Summersweet is a native shrub that bears small white florets held on racemes, and depending on the cultivar may be shaded with varying hues of pink to rose-red. The tapering spires of fragrant blossoms appear in mid to late summer. Clethra has a sweet and spicy though somewhat pungent aroma, and when the summer air is sultry and humid, the fragrance permeates the garden, Summersweet is a nectar food attractive to bees and a wide variety of butterflies, notably the Silver-spotted Skipper.” See more at Oh Garden
Myriad species of bees and butterflies, along with Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, are attracted to Clethra for its sweet nectar, while American Robins, Goldfinches and warblers dine on Summersweet’s ripened berries.
Beach Rose (Rosa rugosa)
