Great Garden Performance on Wonderfully Floriferous Plants
Spirea is a medium-sized deciduous shrub that graces the garden with its long, delicate stems and its bright flowers, held aloft in umbrella-shaped corymbs or torch-like panicles. The perfectly formed, airy clusters of dainty blooms are so iconic that 'Spirea' is used to describe several other cultivars, like the Astilbe that go by the common name 'False Spirea'. Spirea works well in garden beds and prefers fertile, moist but well-drained soil: water in the summer if rainfall is less than 1 inch per week. Naturally wild and spreading, Spirea can be kept compact and tidy with pruning: they can withstand even severe pruning, but be sure to do this pruning in early spring so as not to adversely affect flowering (especially with Japanese cultivars).
