Posted by
ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on Jan 5, 2018 1:25 PM concerning plant:
The regular straight species grows as a wide, mounded form usually about 5 or 6 feet high, but it can get to 12 feet high. It gets wider by some ground suckers and by trailing stems that root along the ground. It has very shiny, dark, three-lobed leaves that turn a good orange to red to red-purple autumn color. Leaves and twigs smell fragrant if broken and crushed; most people should not get a rash touching this. The male plants bear little, brownish catkins about 1 inch long while the female plants bear small clusters of light yellow flowers in March-April before the leaves emerge. The female plants bear the red berries about 1/4 inch wide that mature in July and often last through the winter, though usually not abundant, and that are loved by birds and are edible for people. The species grows in upland dry locations often on rocky or sandy places on cliffs, bluffs, hills, dunes, and barrens in a native range from southeast Ontario and various areas of western New England & New York down to southern Georgia to areas over Texas, all of Oklahoma, Kansas, & Missouri, spots in Nebraska and Iowa to southern Wisconsin. The straight species is sold by some large, diverse nurseries and native plant nurseries. I've never seen it in the average homeowner yard, but at some parks, office parks, hospitals, campuses, and public sites from landscape designers or architects. The groundcover form of the cultivar of 'Gro-low' is much more commonly planted.
Posted by
SongofJoy (Clarksville, TN - Zone 6b) on Jan 15, 2012 7:16 AM concerning plant:
Sumacs are rapidly becoming "the" plants to have for durability, toughness, great fall color and the ability to stabilize soil over large areas. Growing wild in much of the eastern United States in rocky, open woodlands, this Sumac is a great deciduous plant for a difficult spot. It has been spotted growing in gravely, lousy soil with Little Bluestem, Tennessee Coneflower, and Silkgrass where it formed open 6 foot rounded shrubs - kind of straggly but very tough and durable. The bright green leaves look like rounded poison ivy leaves but are non-allergenic and turn bright red, yellow-orange and purple in the fall. Modest yellow flowers appear in spring followed by small dark red fruits (on female plants) in fall. It is the stems that are pungently fragrant. Use Fragrant Sumac in sun or light shade in dryish soil. It can become the backbone of a very low maintenance garden.
