Deutzia Yuki Cherry Blossom

The Deutzia x rosea 'Yuki Cherry Blossom' (NCDX2) is the result of ten years of research. This very recent hybrid variety is unique due to its particularly compact and bushy habit and its ability to spontaneously layer, allowing this bush to form a large ground cover with abundant spring flowering, reminiscent of a cherry blossom. Its small size, disease and pest resistance, as well as its ease of cultivation even in poor and dry soil, make it essential in the garden, as a ground cover on a sunny slope, as a border or planted in a container on the terrace.

The hybrid Deutzia x rosea 'Yuki Cherry Blossom' was obtained in the United States, through the cross-breeding of the D.gracilis Nikko, very compact, with beautiful autumn colours and the D. rosea Carminea, also stout, with white flowers with carmine reverse. These two excellent horticultural varieties, belonging to the saxifrage family, have given Yuki Cherry Blossom a particularly compact habit, a superb pink flowering and a beautifully coloured purple-burgundy autumn foliage. 'Yuki Cherry Blossom' is a small bush forming a dome that will not exceed 60cm (23.6in) in all directions, with lateral branches rooting in contact with the ground. Its growth is rather fast. The abundant flowering takes place in May-June, making the foliage disappear. Its tiny 5-petaled star-shaped flowers are grouped in panicles along the branches. Their colour is remarkable: the outside of the petals is pale pink bordered with white, while the inside is tinged with light magenta pink. They attract pollinating insects and stand out beautifully against its long ovate leaves (7cm (2.8in) in length), dark green and strongly veined, turning bronze and purple-violet at the end of the season.

Slightly out of fashion, survivors of old gardens, deutzias, like lilacs and old roses, are among those almost indestructible shrubs that require little effort but provide a lot of satisfaction to the gardener. In the garden, the 'Yuki Cherry Blossom' deutzia stands out when other spring shrubs have already finished flowering. It can be used planted en masse along a border or pathway, on a sunny slope, alone or mixed with other small ground cover shrubs such as The Fairy or Swany roses, abelias, caryopteris or shrubby potentillas. Its very limited growth allows it to fit in small gardens, but also to adorn the terrace or balcony, planted in a large pot.

The Deutzia will be at its peak flowering in limestone, humus-rich and moist soil. It should be pruned after flowering.