| Contributor
Our back yard has two large, full Loropetalum shrubs that are approximately 20 feet tall. Right now they’re in full bloom, with fringed pink flowers and purple foliage literally covering all of the branches.
As I have said many times before, our entire garden is huge. We have 33 acres and about 3 the acres are tended as a yard. These two shrubs are planted close together and look like one huge shrub.
Our two shrubs are Loropetalum Chinense. Once established, they are extremely drought tolerant. They grow alone on the slope of our backyard and function as model plants.
Once they got established, we never watered them again. They live from everything that nature offers. In addition, we never pruned the bushes. You are in a place that has enough space to grow as big and wide as nature allows.
There are different varieties of Loropetalum, and each variety grows to a different size. There is a very small dwarf variety; another variety reaches medium height and works well as a ground plant; and then there is our strain which reaches the ultimate size of 20 feet, making them perfect as sieve plants when bought in large numbers and planted in a row.
When purchasing a Loropetalum, it is important to determine the height, width, and growth rate of each variety. This will help in deciding which strain to buy for your planned planting location.
Oscar and I recently went to Gadsden to do some errands. On our way back from the East Gadsden credit union, we left the freeway and turned into the thoroughfare of a chicken restaurant on Fourth Street. The first thing I noticed were the two long lanes of travel where one walking companion took orders on an electronic tablet, another took payment, and another issued food orders – efficiency at its best.
The second thing I noticed upon entering the driveway were two beautiful Loropetalum trees completely covered in fringed pink flowers that grew on an island planting bed in the parking lot.
Each of these two understudy trees were formed from large Loropetalum shrubs like the ones we have in our back yard. Apparently someone pruned the shrubs to one trunk, and after the remaining trunk on each of the two shrubs grew large enough, someone removed the lower limbs from each trunk, and voila – a tree was formed. The Loropetalum trees are absolutely beautiful.
Carol (Bonnie) Link is a master gardener from Etowah County and an experienced horticulturalist. Her weekly column is designed to help and encourage others with their gardening chores. Send questions or comments to clink43@bellsouth.net.
