Cutleaf Staghorn Sumac

The tropical-looking beauty of the Cutleaf Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina 'Dissecta') is actually anything but exotic! These are actually attractive native shrub cultivars with dramatic finely dissected leaves and uniquely twisting branches!

The real show begins when the finely divided green foliage turns a beautiful orange and fire red in fall! The twisted branches are revealed after the foliage drops. Many liken the bare branches and new growth to deers' antlers, hence the name 'staghorn'.

Cutleaf Sumac forms a wide-spreading shape at maturity, potentially growing 18 feet high and 12-15 feet wide but with training and pruning, you can create an open, spreading shrub or limb it up to form a small multi-branched tree. This xeric, deciduous shrub is highly adaptable throughout USDA planting zones 3 to 8!

Planting and Application:

Cutleaf Staghorn are impressive hedges for fast privacy and screening during the growing season. Their height bulks up a windbreak and snow drift hedge while slower-growing evergreens fill in. They also are wonderful for creating groupings and wildlife habitats, readily naturalizing in wild areas.

The greenish flame-shaped fruit turns bright red in autumn and persists through the winter, providing food for birds and wildlife. While deer will usually leave these shrubs alone unless desperate, so fill those out-of-the-way areas with unique native beauty! Staghorn Sumac can be used as an accent or in mass plantings, filling hard-to-mow hillsides and eroding slopes in soil-stabilizing thickets, naturalizing clumps, and bird-friendly groupings.

A single specimen can be limbed up into a tree form by exposing the unique trunks! A single tree will look lovely in your Rock Garden, as a unique front yard focal point, and as an accent that lights up the landscape border or foundation planting around your home, especially when the autumn rolls around!

• Cutleafed Colorful Green Foliage
• Twisting Stems & Unique Bark Texture
• Dramatic Fiery Red/Orange Fall Color
• Thicket Forming Groupings or Unique Tree-Forms
• Hedges, Specimens, Naturalizing, Wildlife Habitat & Windbreaks

#ProPlantTips for Care:

Sumac grows best in average, dry to poor soil as long as it is well-drained. You will get the best color and strongest growth in full sun to part shade. Provide new shrubs ample moisture their first year, but once established, Sumac is wonderfully drought tolerant! All plants appreciate a 3-4 inch deep layer of mulch over their root systems to help with moisture retention.

Prune this non-aggressive Sumac in early spring. You can even cut back the plants right to the ground. This allows new shoots to develop from the roots. This refreshes the plant. It will respond quickly reaching 3-4 feet in the very first season after being cut off. This is called Renewal Pruning and it gives you a steady supply of young, full shoots. Cutleaf Staghorn has no serious insect or disease problems.

• Full Sun
• Any Well-Drained Soil
• Moderate To Low Moisture Needs
• Drought Tolerant Once Established
• Prune Early Spring/Renewal Prune Every 3-5 Years
• Deer Tend To Leave This Plant Alone

Fiery fall color and an exotic look without the fuss, order your own Cutleaf Staghorn Sumac today from Nature Hills Nursery! Your pollinators and wildlife will thank you!