Day 285: The common name "Sweetfern" is misleading. Comptonia peregrina is not a fern. It is a deciduous shrub commonly found in the understory of Eastern pine forests. Reputedly difficult to establish from a slip taken in the wild, mine which began as a thready 12" stem with only a handful of leaves has matured into a densely foliated bush with very little encouragement on my part. It presently sprawls three feet wide and equally as tall, adding a lovely spicy fragrance to the air outside my kitchen door. Its seed pods are particularly fascinating. Although they look spiny, the "prickles" are quite soft. In its native environment, this shrub tends to be leggy and somewhat weedy in appearance, but as a garden plant, it provides an excellent backdrop of green for colorful flowers.
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