Cotoneaster suecicus Juliette

Cotoneaster suecicus 'Juliette' is a recent variety with beautiful variegated green foliage, turning red in autumn. This bush has a prostrate, spreading, and compact habit, making it an excellent ground cover, evergreen and robust. Its dense foliage limits the appearance of weeds on slopes, wall edges, or at the base of larger bushes in flowerbeds or rockeries. In June, it is covered with small white to pale pink flowers that develop into small, round red berries. Easy to cultivate, this bush will thrive even in shade and in poor soils, dry in summer.

Cotoneaster suecicus belongs to the large family of Rosaceae. It is a crossbreeding between Cotoneaster conspicuus and Cotoneaster dammeri, two species originating respectively from Tibet and central-western China. C. suecicus is a resistant and hardy bush, even when growing in poor and stony soil. The cultivar 'Juliette' has a spreading and creeping habit, supported by curved and flexible, reddish-brown branches. Its growth is quite slow, reaching a height of about 30 cm (11.8 in) and a spread of 1 m (3 ft 4 in) at maturity. Its semi-evergreen foliage is composed of small, thick and leathery oval-shaped leaves. Pink when in bud, becoming variegated green and pink and turning red in autumn. They have very small white to pink flowers with 5 petals, in June. This nectar-rich flowering gives way to fleshy, bright red fruits measuring 5 to 7 mm (0.2 to 0.3 in) in diameter and appreciated by birds.

This 'Juliette' cotoneaster is ideal as a ground cover in difficult areas of the garden, bringing a very neat touch and brightening it with its beautiful foliage. While it can grow in almost any conditions, it will be more fruitful in the sun and will develop faster in fertile and moist soil. Perfect at the base of a large hedge or in a shaded and bare corner of the garden, for example under a large tree, it can also be planted in a rockery to fill the spaces between other plants. Plant it on a slope, above a wall or retaining wall, at the edge of a terrace or an alley.