Summer Sweet (Clethra alnifolia) lives up to its name by filling the air with its sweet perfume. A small shrub native to eastern US, it will flower in sun or light shade, growing 3-6′ tall and 4-8′ wide. Mine hovers around 4-5′ tall in a 6-8′ oval and is covered with racemes of pink-tipped buds opening to white blooms attracting pollinators.
To the vase, I added white and pink phlox (P. paniculata), purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), the grass-like flowers of Plume Poppy (Macleaya cordata) and a few blades of Maiden Grass (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gracillimus’).
Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In the Garden, who hosts a weekly meme to showcase arrangements created from our gardens. Wander over to see what gardeners all over the world are arranging this week.
Eliza Waters 
Beautiful arrangements!
Thank you, Mike!
Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
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Very pretty, thank you.
Your arrangement looks so sweet and summery!
Thank you!
Lovely with all thise coneflowers! I like the sound of that Clethra too Eliza, and looked it up. Although it apparently likes damp soil I might try and grow one for those beautiful scented flowers. Have a great week! 🙂
Thank you, Cathy. Worth trying – I love mine.
Reblogged this on Purplerays.
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Beautiful as ever
Thank you kindly, Derrick
Seeing a summer lightness here and I admire the frothy looking summer sweet. Thanks Eliza, feeling despondent this Monday morning so your post comes just at a time when there’s a need to draw on nature’s beauty.
Sorry to hear you have the Monday blues, but hope this little bit of beauty helped raise your spirits. 🙂
😊
Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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I really look forward to the regular treat of your lovely flowers. Sets the week off to a good start!
Thank you so much!
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
Opulent and elegant at the same time. It makes a lovely shape. Clethra alnifolia is new to me, it’s lovely.
Thank you, Christina. We’re starting to see more hybrids, particularly more compact and floriferous ones.
Hi Eliza, That arrangement could have come from my grandmothers garden…..so lovely and old fashioned. I love grasses in arrangements….they add height and texture…..thank you for sharing!
Thank you very much, Sally!
Beautiful, Eliza!
Thank you, Carrie!
Beautiful. 🙂 My phlox is putting on quite a show right now.
Thank you, Judy. Phlox gets into a lot of my arrangements this time of year!
Sweet summer is waning. A lovely tribute.
Thank you, Laurie.
Perfectly balanced in shape, colour and tone.
Thank you very much, Joanna.
Sweet indeed! I wonder, do you leave this outside? If so do insects and hummingbirds visit it?
Sometimes I leave them outside, but this one smells so good I brought it in. It fills the whole room up with scent. I think I have so much in the gardens, the critters don’t bother with things on the deck, although the hangers off the deck get plenty of visitors.
There is something really delicate about this. Another beautiful vase!
Thank you, Sarah!
Summer’s floral bounty in a vase! So many bodacious beauties. I admire your skill and rounding up all of these stars and making them work so well together in an ensemble cast!
Thank you, Peter. ‘Bodacious’ is a good word to use to describe this one!
That Clethra is beautiful! It’s all the more delightful that it’s scented too. As it’s not remotely suited to my area, its been added to the long list of plants that make up the garden that exists only in my dreams.
Thank you, Kris. It is one of few late summer shrubs that bloom and so sweetly! The hybrids have addressed its tendancy to sprawl. It is easy to dig and share, which is something I’d do if you lived down the road. 😉
That looks like a big bunch of summer to me!
It really is! 🙂
Summer sweet sound like a lovely shrub and very accommodating. I love your overflowing vase.
Thank you, Alison.
Summer bounty, I feel there is a picnic lurking in the background. Especially love the Coneflowers, Clethra is an amazing native, another favorite from my former garden.
Thanks, Amelia. Love that Clethra…it really is powerfully sweet!
Beautiful! Especially because it attracts pollnators….I’ve been so interested in them, this year.
Thank you, Alice!
That pink on the summer sweet is very fetching! A lovely soft arrangement and I like the haze that the plume poppy spurs add.
Thank you, Allison. I bought this particular hybrid for those pink buds, the species is white only. The rosy buds really are fetching!
Just beautiful!
Thank you, Belinda!
Perfection!
Aw, thanks, Lisa! 🙂
Sweet indeed! Lovely choices Eliza 💛
Thank you, Val. 🙂
So full of beautiful summery blooms…..
Thank you, Noelle.
Lush and lovely Eliza.
Thank you, Susie.
I love your arrangements, Eliza. Every single one has been stunning, and sometimes it seems that each one is better than the last. This particular one, if it could sing, would be a song of summer. 🙂
Thank you so much for that sweet compliment, Robin. 🙂
Oh those echinacea are such stars in your vase, Eliza, and sadly something that I struggle to grow here…
Thank you, Cathy. You might get too much rain for echinacea, a plant from our hot, midwestern prairies. Perhaps add more sand to their soil for better drainage and give them your sunniest spot?
They supposedly prefer not to have competition – unlikely in my crowded borders, but I shall consider adding extra drainage when/if I try agin!!
Beautiful arrangement and I loved the individual photo of the summer sweet.🙂
Thank you very much!
Delicious Eliza!!! I have a new rekindling for Purple Coneflower as of late.
Thank you, Kathy!
A lovely mix!
Thank you!