Spiraea alba, the Narrowleaf Meadowsweet Spirea, is sort of an upright shrub, even though it will eventually spread by underground roots to become a small, wide colony. It usually is about 4 to 6 feet high with bluish-green leaves to about 3 inches long x 3/4 inch wide. The twigs are light brown and can be hairy. It bears white, erect, pyramidal clusters about 2 to 12 inches long in late June and July, and in August way up in its northern range. The flowers are busy with bumblebees, various bees, some butterflies, and other pollinating insects. It develops an average yellow fall color to a poor yellowish fall color depending on the individual plant and the weather. In nature it grows in bogs, dunes, meadows, forest openings, roadside ditches, along streams and creeks and along ponds and lakes from central Alberta & Saskatchewan through southern Ontario and a little of nearby Quebec, western New York, most of Pennsylvania & New Jersey, down the Appalachians to north Georgia, much of Ohio & Indiana & Illinois, & Iowa, spots in Missouri, and all of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and some of North Dakota. It likes draining wet to moist soils. It has a dense fibrous root system where it will spread by ground suckering and it is easy to transplant. It grows well in the average landscape, though I would water it during strong drought. Some native plant and specialty nurseries sell it; I have never seen it offered in conventional nurseries. I've only seen some at arboretums, some parks, and places with an emphasis on native plants. Otherwise, all the spireas in landscapes are east Asian species. In mid-May 2018 I bought three specimens of Spiraea alba in pots of one gallon from Redbud Native Plant Nursery in Media, PA. I planted one specimen in my backyard and two specimens at a church landscape I manage. They grew a little the first season, filled in better the second, and were of mature size the third year of about 5 to 6 feet. I propagated several plants by taking stem cuttings in late spring. This species and the Steeplebush Spirea (Spiraea tomentosa) are among my favorite shrubs.

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