Gillenia trifoliata Pink Profusion

Gillenia trifoliata 'Pink Profusion', sometimes called Three-leaf Gillenia, is a hardy, unique, and little-known perennial. However, it is a very ornamental and easy-to-grow plant that forms a beautiful flowering bush from early to late summer, generously adorned with airy panicles where a mist of pale-pink and red star-shaped flowers settle. Their calyx persists after flowering, punctuating the light foliage with carmine red. The foliage is tinged with bronze, turning rust-coloured in autumn. This plant prefers partial shade and moist, well-drained, humus-rich soils.

Gillenia trifoliata is a plant from the Rosaceae family, like the spireas to which it was once related. This rhizomatous perennial is now part of the Gillenia genus, which only has two species. It is native to North America, where it is found growing at high altitudes in the forests and rocky slopes of Canada and the eastern United States, from Arkansas to Tennessee. 'Pink Profusion' is a compact form of this species, with an upright and spreading habit. Slow to establish, it develops from a slow-growing stump. Its woody and slender stems, reddish-purple in colour, form a bush that is 60 to 80cm (24 to 32in) tall and 40 to 50cm (16 to 20in) wide. The flowering period extends from June to August-September, in the form of small star-shaped flowers measuring 3 to 4cm (1 to 2in) in diameter, clustered in panicles. The 7 petals that make up each flower are narrow, pale-pink washed with red, and supported by a reddish-purple calyx. The foliage consists of leaves with three more or less serrated leaflets, measuring 3 to 8cm (1 to 3in) long, deeply veined, with toothed margins. The foliage is dark green, tinged with bronze, and takes on a beautiful autumn colour before falling in winter.

Gillenia trifoliata 'Pink Profusion' is no more difficult to grow than weigelas or flowering currants, but far more graceful. It is simply less known, perhaps a little more temperamental despite its long flowering period and its willingness to grow in partial shade. It establishes itself slowly but surely on the edge of woodland, in a bed of flowering shrubs, or even in clear and cool woodland, away from the scorching sun. It can be paired with partial shade shrubs such as Mexican orange blossom, oakleaf hydrangea, Berberis 'Rosy Glow', and Cotoneaster lacteus, which will retain beautiful foliage in winter while gillenia rests. It creates a lovely scene alongside 'Brunette' bugbane and lungworts, rock meadowsweet, and Japanese painted fern, the rainbow fern.