Wax Myrtle
Scientific Description: Wax Myrtle – Morella cerifera – is a member of the Bayberry (Myricaceae) family. It is an evergreen large shrub/small tree, growing to 20 feet high and 15 feet wide. It is dioecious, with male and female plants. It has very inconspicuous flowers, and its leaves and stems have a spicy, aromatic fragrance when they are crushed.
The wax myrtle grows best in Hardiness Zones 7 through 10. It does well in full sun or partial shade, in average to moist soils, and in a wide assortment of soil types; everything from clay to loam.
The leaves are a light green in the spring, with a toothed margin and small yellow dots on bottom surface. These dots are the site of the resins that we smell. The small male and female flowers mature in the spring. Berries develop only on female plants.
It is native from New Jersey westward to Oklahoma and eastern Texas southward to Mexico and much of Central America and the Caribbean islands.
The berries of wax myrtle and its more northerly cousin bayberry (Morella pensylvanica) were used by early settlers to make candles. The waxy greyish-blue berries are harvested and boiled in water. The wax floats to the water’s surface and is skimmed off. This Genus also fixes atmospheric nitrogen, thus, providing it and nearby plants with nitrogen.
Habitat Value: The wax myrtle attracts a great many song bird species, especially the larger ones like cardinals, cedar waxwings, and blue jays. They also attract different species of butterflies, usually in the spring. If you want berries, you must have at least one male plant near the female.
This species has no major insect or disease problems, but if the winter temperature dips below freezing, the plant will drop its leaves, and they will not be replaced until the next spring.
Landscape Value: By Matt Whitaker of WMWA Landscape Architects
Morella cerifera, previously Myrica, is one of the earliest ornamental plants I learned about as a child. My father was fond of it and no doubt saw it growing at Auburn University in the landscape and the wild. Historically, it would not have grown very far outside of the Coastal Plain, but with a warming climate and use in the horticultural trade, its range is expanding. Wax myrtle is one of a handful of our native evergreen shrubs that is easy to grow. For those of us who primarily use natives, the answer to the demanding (most unreasonable) need for evergreens is a challenge. Wax myrtle is one of our best options. This value has been recognized in the trade with more than a dozen cultivars grown, many of them dwarfs.
I grew this plant at my house in Virginia and have planted it and its cultivars on multiple projects over the last two decades. At the top of my west-facing bank in Virginia, any harsh cold would kill some individuals back to the ground. It would always come back vigorously in the spring. Here in Chattanooga, winter damage is unlikely. You can see its cultivar Don Dwarf growing at the pollinator garden on Virginia Avenue in St. Elmo and in the newly planted all-native landscape at the Hunter Museum. Many landscapes around town include full-size selections. It can be clipped into a hedge or left to be more billowy. The dwarf selections seldom need pruning. The one rule I have learned in decades of planting it is that it does not tolerate tree root competition. Based on observation, it is the competition for water, not sunlight, that is the issue, although it does not perform well in deep shade either. The fragrant leaves can be used as a natural bug repellant in a pinch.
