Styrax japonica Evening Light

Styrax japonica 'Evening Light', like a beautiful summer night, sprinkles its dark foliage with a thousand small white and fragrant bell-shaped flowers in June. Flamboyant in autumn, fragrant and remarkably colourful in early summer, this deciduous shrub with modest dimensions and an upright habit is a very beautiful novelty for the ornamentation of small spaces and terraces. To admire it at leisure, give it a prime location, preferably in the sun to accentuate the colour of its foliage.

Native to Japan, Korea and China, Japanese Styrax is a deciduous shrub of the Styracaceae family, composed of trees and shrubs with aromatic resin. It is a large ornamental shrub for semi-shade and cool, humus-rich and non-calcareous soil. In recent years, cultivars with reduced growth and more colourful foliage have emerged, such as 'Evening Light', recently obtained in the Netherlands.

'Evening Light' is a shrub of modest size and slow growth. At maturity, it will reach about 3 m (9.8 ft) in height and 2.5 m (8.2 ft) in width, sometimes 4 m (13.1 ft) in height and 3 m (9.8 ft) in width under optimal conditions. Its habit is upright, supported by flexible brown branches. The deciduous foliage is glossy and composed of ovate leaves, 2.5 cm to 8.5 cm (1 in to 3.3 in) long, with serrated edges. The young leaves are violet-coloured when they first emerge. They gradually turn green while retaining beautiful shades of purple and violet when exposed to the sun. In shade, they tend to show a dark olive-green colour. Before falling, they take on different shades of purple, orange and yellow. In early summer, and sometimes until August, the dark brown branches are adorned with a multitude of pure white buds resembling snowflakes, which open into extremely fragrant small flowers. These are white bell-shaped flowers, 1.5 cm (0.6 in) in diameter, with 5 ovate lobes adorned with a bouquet of golden stamens in the centre. They hang down, solitary or in clusters, below the branches. The contrast between the brightness of the drooping flowers and the dark hue of the foliage and branches is striking, offering a sumptuous and fascinating spectacle. The flowering, highly visited by pollinating insects, gives way to ovoid and dry olive-green fruits. This Styrax has excellent hardiness, around -20° C (-4° F).

To accentuate the astonishing colour of the foliage of this Styrax, give it a few hours of sun, but avoid the hottest hours of the day. It likes humus-rich, acidic, cool and light soils, a soil that hydrangeas love. Install it in isolation, near a passage or not far from the house to fully enjoy its unique beauty and fragrance. It also stands out on a terrace or balcony, placed in a carefully chosen large pot. It can be paired with shrubs with dark or, on the contrary, golden foliage, such as the beautiful Physocarpus (P. 'All Black', P. 'Dart's Gold'). The very blue flowering of some hydrangeas will be enhanced by its almost black foliage. The delicacy of 'Evening Light' also goes wonderfully well with the simplicity of the fragrant bramble Rubus odoratus, covered in pink summer flowers. To decorate its base, one can for example use small creeping euonymus with variegated foliage (Emerald Gaiety) and cyclamen.