Photinia fraseri Pink Marble - Christmas Berry

Photinia x fraseri Pink Marble is one of the few bushes with evergreen foliage presenting pink marbling. Its shiny young shoots are bright red with shocking-pink variegation, before turning into dark green variegated with cream-white. Superbly coloured, with fairly fast growth, medium size, and decorative all year round, it will look good in a trimmed or untrimmed evergreen hedge, but also and especially placed in isolation or in a large container on a terrace. Its cultivation presents no difficulty, in any good, well-drained, garden soil, in a sunny exposure.

Photinia x fraseri or Fraser's Photinia is an old horticultural creation born in 1940 in the United States. It is the result of cross-breeding between Photinia glabra, native to Japan and the P. serrulata, native to China. This hybrid has given rise to some famous cultivars, including the New Zealand 'Red Robin', widely planted in parks and gardens and on highway embankments. This variety, on the other hand, is a naturally variegated mutation discovered in Oregon in 1991.

Reaching on average 3 m (9.8 ft) in height and 2 m (6.6 ft) in width, it has an initially slightly spreading habit before shooting up. Its vegetation is adorned with evergreen foliage all year round, made up of tough and shiny leaves. Arranged alternately on the branches, they are about 6 cm to 8 cm (2.4 in to 3.1 in) long and 4 cm (1.6 in) wide, finely toothed at the edges. Their background colour changes from very bright red to wine-coloured red, then to bronze and finally to bright green and shiny dark green in summer, while the marbling goes from pink to cream-white. Pruning promotes the production of highly coloured young shoots, at the expense of flowering. In March or April, fluffy clusters of small flowers of a somewhat uncertain white colour appear, reaching 10 cm to 15 cm (3.9 in to 5.9 in) in diameter, at the ends of the branches. Rich in nectar, they are very popular with bees.

It adapts to any well-drained soil, deep, fresh to dry in summer, and even slightly calcareous. It suits a sunny or semi-shaded situation. It is an easy-to-cultivate and easy-to-maintain bush that can withstand temperatures down to -15° C (5° F) for a short period, exposed to the sun. It is ideal for creating trimmed or untrimmed hedges, and it looks impressive when planted in isolation or in a large container and is magnificent in a border. Very ornamental, it can also be shaped into a ball like laurel trees. Plant with other easy-to-maintain evergreen bushes like Elaeagnus ebbingei, laurel trees, Rhamnus alaternus, Berberis, Olearias, Portuguese laurel (Prunus lusitanica), or holly for example. It will also accompany other bushes with white or blue spring flowering such as Spiraea or evergreen ceanothus.

Tips: Excessively calcareous or too clayey soils should be avoided. A balancing pruning is necessary in summer.