Thursday, April 17, 2008

Boring but important - Photinia

This shrub grows almost anywhere as a tough, traffic & drought resistant hedging. It is the sort of plant a snobby English friend of mine would term 'Waitrose carpark', or in our case Coop carpark. It has distinctive red foliage in spring. When the red leaves fade to green, give the plant a trim to encourage new red leaves.
Apart though from its undoubted usefulness as a hedge, why not consider it as a red feature to offset silver planting? At La Landriana in Lazio they have a red garden which features Photinia. Also there is a low growing variety which is good for ground cover.
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