Sourwood
Oxydendrum arboreum
A native tree with drooping sprays of fragrant white flowers in midsummer, when few trees bloom, and brilliant red to purple fall colour, a fine understory or specimen tree. It needs acid, moist, well-drained soil, resents transplanting, and won't take pollution or city conditions.
- Mature size
- 25 × 16 ft
- 7.5 × 5 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 5a–8b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Dry to moist
- Blooms
- Jun–Jul
- Fall color Oct–Nov
Sourwood at its mature size
A mature Sourwood grows 20 to 30 feet tall and 10 to 25 feet wide, taller than most people.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension, The Morton Arboretum.
Through the year
What Sourwood looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Dormant · Dec–Apr
Bare slender branches with dry seed sprays.
In leaf · May, Aug–Sep
Glossy green leaves with drooping white flower sprays.
In flower · Jun–Jul
Drooping sprays of small white bells at every branch tip.
Fall · Oct–Nov
Brilliant scarlet fall colour with pale seed sprays.
Photos
Growing Sourwood
- Grows well in
- The Northeast and the Southeast.
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Good for
- Specimen, shade garden, drought tolerant, rain garden, deer resistant, pollinators, fall color, and fragrant
- Leaves
- Drops its leaves in winter
- Native to
- Eastern United States
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Sourwood, that’s about 16 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Sourwood in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.