Many years ago, on a farm located on the Salt River in Mercer County, Kentucky, my maternal grandmother planted a spiraea. It blooms early in March, sometimes the delicate white blossoms even appear in a mild February, and blend in with snow on the ground. My mother took a division from this shrub and planted it on the farm she moved to (on the wrong side of the Kentucky River, as I’ve heard her grumble before). Around 10 years ago, I dug up a tiny bit with roots, and planted it in the narrow backyard of my 1925 bungalow in Lexington, Kentucky. When I moved again, I brought it with me.
My bridal wreath spiraea, March 2024.
It’s a glorious, untamed, spreading shrub, perfect for my preferred cottage garden aesthetic. But I’ve always been puzzled when discussing it with other gardeners, because it looks nothing like what other people call a bridal wreath spiraea.
Two of the original spiraea sat on either end of the sidewalk at my mother’s family home, seen here in the 1950s.
Spiraea (the genus) is a deciduous flowering shrub, and the name originates from the Greek word, speira, or “wreath” in reference to the orientation of the shrub’s delicate flowers.
My amateur efforts at identifying my beloved version research yielded more confusion. I thought it might be Spiraea prunifolia, but the leaves and blooms aren’t quite right. I’ve also dismissed Spiraea × vanhouttei as a contender.
Detail of my spiraea.
The blossoms on my spiraea (which is now around nine feet tall and nine feet wide, after six years in its second location) are delicate, unaccompanied by leaves, and not clustered together in little clumps. I believe those clusters are called umbellate clusters. My spiraea also blooms a good month before its more blowsy, strident (yet still beautiful!) cousins.
The “other” spiraea.
I have some of those blowsy kin, and they are blooming like mad right now. I’ve found them across Kentucky, both at historic farmhouses and in town.
The flowers of the “other” spiraea.
The leaves of the two shrubs are also quite different. The leaves on my spiraea (#2 in the photo below) are longer, and appear after the blooms. The stems are darker as well.
My spiraea is #2. The more common spiraea is #1.
Head scratching continued. Could it be Spiraea x arguta? This seems like a better match than the others, and interestingly, this looks to be a popular variety across the pond in England! Spiraea x arguta is a cross between S. multiflora and S. thunbergii. It does not appear to be a widely available nursery plant, but I did find a reference to it in a 1912 Bulletin (number 21) put out by the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University.
A description of Spiraea arguta from Harvard University’s Annold Arboretum, circa 1912.
I would love to find it in a garden catalog from the 1940s, which is when I suspect the original shrub was planted by my grandmother. I imagine she didn’t buy a shrub, but instead, planted her own divisions from another shrub, from a garden somewhere in Harrodsburg. The species name is irrelevant in the end, as I adore my beloved heirloom shrub no matter its proper classification. My heart lifts when its blooms begin to show early in the year, as we turn our tired faces from winter.
Love it! Precious memories.
Lovely Essay❣️
Thank you!
Sorry I don’t know. We had one like yours beside our house. I just knew it as Spirea.
Love your Mom’s family home. If you haven’t featured it I’d love to hear about it.
We spent a lot of time visiting with other friends and family an
We spent lots of time together with friends and family along the Salt River. Fishing and picnicking.
Your spirea will be a lift each early spring from now until there is no more.
Unlike your spirea the Sewell house on railroad street Olive Hill always featured a spring bloom from the wedding veil spirea. I understand from my father that the bushes were always there, always in a draping bloom. We also moved to Eastwood Subdivision and moved two pieces to plant at the new home.
I always enjoy your documentation and descriptions.
Thank you so much!
JRB, when I get back to FL (in L’ville now), I’ll look at my early-WWII 20th century garden books w/ this info and see if I find earlier species of this plant that was in commercial use.
Thanks Leslie!
Please share any info you find on this particular spirea. My Mom had one . The shrub is now at least 60years old. When my Mom passed in 2019. The new home owners cut the shrub down. Her cousin has some from her Mom. I am going to get me some of hers. It all started from my Grandma around the 50’s. Thanks for sharing.
JRB, your guess of Spiraea x arguta is probably correct. It was planted during the 1930s as “Garland spirea.” My word there were LOTS of Spiraea cultivars! I’m going to copy excerpts from 3 different books into 3 different comments. Unfortunately, most focused on the flowers and there were no photos except for S. ulmari. The ulmari branches/leaves look like arguta except the leaves appear to be more serrated and it is more of a meadow plant (meadowsweet).
1. Hardy Herbaceous & Alpine Plants, Spring 1931, Wayside Gardens Co, Ohio. Spiraea – Goat’s Beard; Meadow Sweet:
Very handsome herbaceous perennials. General appearance much like that of Astilbe. The plant commonly known as Spiraea japonica really belongs to the genus Astilbe. Species below have handsomely divided leaves and flowers borne in graceful, feathery plumes:
Aruncus – long, feathery panicles of white flowers, forming graceful plumes 4’ tall in June.
Filipendula (Dropwort) – numerous corymbs of white flowers on stems 15” high during June & July; pretty fernlike foliage.
Filipendula flore pleno – double white flowers on 12” stems; lovely fernlike foliage.
Palmata elegans – graceful plumes of lovely light pink flowers in June, on stems 3’ high.
Ulmaria fl pl. – the well known double “Meadow Sweet.” Creamy white flowers produced in abundance in early summer on stems abt 3’ high. This photo looks like JRB’s spiraea’s plant’s leaves and upright branches but the flowers are not the same.
This publication also identifies as “Spiraea” the Astilbes and Astilbe Hybrids, of which there were 18 cultivars in the book.
I love it that it was featured in Wayside Gardens – I’ve gotten plants from them!
Not sure my 1st of 3 comments posted. I’ll repost as needed. Second book; this one mentions Garland spirea:
America’s Garden Book, 1939, Louise & James Bush-Brown, Scribner’s Sons
Spiraea prunifolia (bridal wreath) – seldom grows more than 4-5’ high. Upright, spreading growth w/ delicate branches wreathed in bloom in early spring. Small white flowers are quite double in form. Tendency to become leggy near the ground.
Spiraea thunbergia (Thunberg spirea) – doesn’t grow more than 3’ high. Bushy habit w/ very slender, twig-like branches. Leaves are small, narrow and quite pointed and slightly yellowish green, turning orange and red in the autumn. White flowers appear in March and early April.
Spiraea vanhouttei (Vanhoute spirea) – fountain of bloom. Graceful form 5-6’ high. Finely cut, delicate foliage. Large white flower clusters in May.
Also mentions, w/o description of leaves or branches, other Spiraea cultivars: Arguta (Garland spirea), Billiardii (Billiard spirea), Bumalda (Bumalda spirea), Cantoniensis, Latifolia, Tomentosa (Hard Hack).
Janie, I’m no expert, but I think that the “other Spirea” is the Bridal Wreath Spirea, and the one you think is Bridal Wreath is really Bridal Veil Spirea. If anyone knows for sure, I hope they tell us.
I hope this post makes its way to a horticultural expert!
Me too. I took some Horticulture at UK but it has been so long. There is a type of Spirea that grows down here and it is at least marketed as “Bridal Wreath.”
It is truly gorgeous…………envious!!!
Your spirea is absolutely beautiful. The mystery may be part of its appeal.
Jamie, I have a pink double bush that I grew from a rooting my grandmother gave me. Her grandmother bought it from South Carolina to North Louisiana. The blooms look like tiny pink roses all up the branches before it puts on foliage in the spring. I’ve never been able to find it.
I would love to see a picture if you have one? You can email me at gardens2gables@gmail.com
3rd of 3 comments re spirea. Note that it distinguishes “old fashioned” bridal wreath from “bridal wreath.”
Woman’s Home Companion Garden Book, 1947, ed. John C. Wister, PF Collier & Sons
Spiraea – Rose family. A “disconcertingly” large number of species. The few that are widely planted are popular for their showy flowers.
Bridal wreath types – flowers white, mostly Chinese and Korean. Cultivars: prunifolia (old-fashioned bridal wreath; double form is in general cultivation); thunbergi (Thunberg’s spirea); trichocarpa (more recent introduction to American gardens; like van houttei but flowers after it); van houttei (bridal wreath; spectacular; 6-8’ high; overplanted).
Types where flowers are pink or purplish to white – mostly Japanese, smaller growing. Albiflora, bumalda, japonica (“Anthony Waterer”).
Hardhack types – mostly American and common meadow plants. Much different in appearance than Asian types. Alba; billiardi; douglasi (Pacific coast); salicifolia, tomentosa.
Leslie, you are amazing! Thank you so much!