Spirea

These came from Hinkley, who claims this is the true Bridal Wreath, nomenclatural confusion reigns with x vanhoutii and thunbergii, I didn’t attempt to sort things out trusting Dan to have it right, fully double pompom flowers disdained by lepidoptera. I mostly remember playing hide and go seek behind foundation plantings of it as a kid and being eaten alive by mosquitoes, everyone else seems fond of it including Fred Case, even Dirr claims it an old favorite of his, but goes on to say its open, coarse, straggly, leggy and over the hill, having no use in modern gardens. This sort of reverse psychology is either very clever or incredibly stupid depending on how much we sell.

A rare native spirea, corymbs of white flowers atop meter high plants, it propagates easily from seed or cuttings and should be more widely grown.

S. triloba x S. cantoniensis, Vanhouttei is probably the most popular of all the spireas and normally would be a bit mundane for us, however ‘Pink Ice’ did catch our eye, the leaves emerge in spring mottled pink and white. This variegation does tend to green out in summer, however its still worthy of garden space.