Floridata: Deutzia gracilis

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#165 Deutzia gracilis
Common Names: deutzia
Family: Saxifragaceae (saxifrage Family)

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Up close or at a distance, slender deutzia is a springtime garden delight. [Click to download a large version (800x600) to display on your computer desktop.]

Description
Slender deutzia is an attractive deciduous shrub with a long history as a garden favorite. Deutzia grows erectly to 6 ft (1.8 m) high but assumes a mounded form with age and is usually seen at 2-4 ft (0.6-1.2 m) with an equal spread. The shrub's slender stems are yellowish green-brown and hold opposite, lance to oval-shaped leaves that are 2.5-3 in (6.4-7.6 cm) long and 0.75-1.5 in (1.9-3.8 cm) wide. These are smooth, thin and delicate with a bright green upper surface and smooth, almost white undersides. For about two weeks in April or May these shrubs completely cover themselves with racemes of pure white, cup-shaped flowers 0.5-0.75 in (1.3- 1.9 cm). The pure white flowers against the handsome green foliage gives the shrub a particularly appealing fresh look that catches the eye and sensitive noses will enjoy the plants light fragance.

Location
Deutzia gracilis is native to Japan and is popular as a landscape item, along with its many hybrids, throughout the world.

Culture
Fertile, well drained soil is ideal. Deutzias are not fussy about pH requirements. Seldom bothered by pests or disease, although an occasional case of aphids or leaf spot is possible. They tend to develop dead wood and often look bedraggled; a heavy pruning right after bloom helps keep them looking good.
Light: Sun to light shade.
Moisture: Average.
Hardiness: USDA Zones 4 to 10.
Propagation: Softwood cuttings during warm weather.

Jack grows slender deutzia in a mixed shrub border where it continues the flower show, albeit at a more subdued level, after the azaleas are finished blooming.

Usage
Plant slender deutzia as a low hedge, border, or in a mixed shrub border. Does well defining an area because of its low, broad shape. If space is unlimited, use deutzia with abandon! But remember, there are myriad low growing shrubs that have superior qualities or that stay evergreen, and would serve the same purposes.

Features
Deutzia is a prolific, free flowering shrub that blooms in spring just after the azaleas and before the gardenias. There are several species in this genus, as well as numerous hybrids that are used in the garden, slender deutzia is the most popular. Deutzi purpurascens is a very similar shrub that has flowers with petal tinted purple on the outside. Deutzia x rosea is a hybrid of these two with pale pink flowers. Deutzia scabra is another popular member of the genus. All of the deutzias are easy to grow and bothered by few diseases or pests.

Jack Scheper 08/17/97; updated 04/25/03, 4/22/04, 5/16/05

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