Itea virginica ‘Shirley's Compact’ Bob McCartney with starry spring flowers of

with starry spring flowers of clean white in place of the usual deep maroon

tarflower opens wide flowers of seven separate petals

full sun and sharp drainage

beside a gate or water feature

Itea virginica ‘Shirley's Compact’ Bob McCartney with starry spring flowers ofItea virginica, the Virginia sweetspire, is a native shrub of eastern wetlands, familiar in gardens for fragrant white flower spikes and fiery fall color. 'Shirley's Compact,' sometimes called Shirley's Midget, takes the species to an extreme: a true miniature, a dense little bun of a plant with tiny, twisted, inch long leaves, growing so slowly that a ten year old clump may stand only a foot or a foot and a half tall while spreading two or three feet