Slender Deutzia
I passed this Japanese shrub in the nursery today and made a note to myself to use it in a design. The opportunity came up shortly when a neat new client asked for a small cottage garden design with flowering shrubs that attract butterflies and hummingbirds, and she likes blues and purples.

This low shrub fits the bill perfectly. It only grows 2 feet tall and about 2 or 3 feet wide. It has profuse white flowers in spring, and now it has its autumn color: a rich plum hue to its fine textured, serrated leaves. The best time to prune would be right after it finishes blooming.

Deutzias prefer average to moist soil in sun to partial shade. So I will probably situate this shrub in the irrigated section of the client’s front yard, where an old Magnolia will give it shade in the early part of the day but it will receive full afternoon sun. Too much shade and the flowering and fall color would be compromised.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 at 11:59 pmand is filed under Plant Of The Day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.