Deutzia-Retro Shrub

I love it when I see an old-fashioned shrub, one that has not been tinkered with by hydridizers, at an established property in all it’s glory. These shrubs require a lot of space, at least 10′ x 10′ or more to grow unfettered and spread out in all their glory.

 Nowadays, everyone wants a dwarf shrub to fit into a 3′ x 3′ space, stay that way for many years, and require little or no maintenance. Oh, and have lots of beautiful flowers-preferably pink! Deutzias have been around a long time with cascading flowers that waterfall off the shrub in late spring that can cover the plant. Native to Asia and Central America, Deutzia is an easy to grow deciduous shrub in sun or part shade that is used as a ground cover or a specimen plant. A lot of people are familiar with ‘Nikko’  which won The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Gold Medal Award, 1989. Great cascading over low walls, Nikko can spread 5 feet wide in ten years but remain only 18″ tall.

As a landscape designer, I am guilty of looking for cultivars of the old-fashioned shrubs like Deutzias in a smaller package. Chardonnay Pearls with its golden foliage and the new Yuki Cherry Blossom with pink flowers fit the bill for me and my clients.

Yuki Cherry Blossom is a pink Deutzia shrub in a small package ready to fit into a small landscape or container. With soft pink flowers covering the plant in spring, it is a great little plant to use in borders along with other flowering perennials.

Chardonnay Pearls by Proven Winners is a beautiful Deutzia with chartreuse foliage which does great in partial shade and does well on hillsides. The arching branches root in at the tip and are great for stabilizing hillsides. The golden foliage brightens up shady locations.

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A double-flowered Deutzia