Spiraea japonica Golden Princess

Spiraea japonica 'Golden Princess' is a small Japanese spiraea, beautifully coloured: its foliage changes from coppery red to golden yellow and then to green in summer, and takes on beautiful red hues in autumn. This little bush comes alive throughout the summer with pretty inflorescences in bright purple corymbs. Low-maintenance and undemanding, it will work well in any garden. Its compact and rounded habit makes it suitable for creating borders or low beds, as well as for growing in pots or containers.

Japanese spiraea 'Golden Princess' belongs to the Rosaceae family. It is a cultivar derived from Spiraea japonica, a species with pink flowers native to China and Japan. This plant's growth is rather fast; its adult size will reach about 75 cm (30in) in all directions. Forming a very dense small shrub with a rounded bushy habit, this variety showcases bright foliage that contrasts beautifully with the dark pink colour of its flowers. The leaves are small, deciduous, oblong, and dentate, emerging coppery red and turning red in autumn before falling. The flowers appear on the current year's growth, in June-July, and bloom again until the end of summer if faded flowers are removed. They are grouped in spherical terminal corymbs measuring 3-5 cm (1-2in) in diameter. They are quite a dark pink, composed of numerous small bright pink flowers with a deep pink centre. Nectar-rich and honey-producing, the flowers attract many butterflies, bees, and bumblebees.

'Golden Princess' Spiraea is a top-notch variety for landscaping. It will adapt to a wide range of soils and climates, only intolerant of scorching sun or excessively dry conditions. This plant works wonders as a low hedge or as the framework for a perennial bed, and also when planted in large borders. Combine Japanese Spirea with white, pink, or mauve roses, as well as with white, yellow, or pink shrubby potentillas. It works perfectly as ground cover alongside pathways or even in rock gardens. You can place it at the front of a rustic hedge, accompanied by other dwarf spiraeas (Spiraea betulifolia), dwarf red osier (Salix purpurea nana), Miss Kim dwarf Manchurian lilac, the unique alternate-leaved butterfly bush (Buddleia alternifolia), or dwarf purple weigela (Nana purpurea). It will thrive in pots or containers on terraces and balconies, in not too dry conditions.