Jazz Hands® Dwarf Pink Loropetalum

There are some shrubs that are so striking and beautiful that once you see them you never forget it. Of course, you must have it for your garden. This is how everyone feels when they first see a Loropetalum, with its graceful form, colorful foliage and unique flowers of brilliant color and slender petals. Surely one of the most beautiful of them all is the Jazz Hands® Dwarf Pink Loropetalum. The petals of the vibrant pink flowers do indeed look like a musician’s fingers, and the deep purple foliage makes those flowers glow out across your yard. It is compact enough for a small garden or for a planter, and bright enough to stand out anywhere. Once seen – never forgotten. Something this exotic must be hard to grow – but it isn’t. Vigorous and strong, it is very adaptable to soil, although preferring acidic ones, and it thrives in ordinary garden conditions, in both sun and shade.

Growing the Jazz Hands® Dwarf Pink Loropetalum

Size and Appearance

The Jazz Hands Dwarf Pink Loropetalum is a small, spreading shrub, reaching between 1 and 3 feet tall, with a similar spread. It is usually wider than tall. The branches are slender and grow in elegant, angular directions, creating an ‘oriental’ style to the plant.

The foliage is evergreen in warmer zones, and deciduous in colder ones. The leaves are softly hairy when they first emerge in spring, turning smooth by summer. They are oval, between 1 and 2 inches long, with smooth edges and noticeable veins. Their coloring is extraordinary – a bright purple-red in spring, turning very dark purple for the summer, and then, in cooler areas, turning brilliant red and orange in fall. In warmer zones the leaves may color a little, but tend to remain purple all winter, falling only in summer, after the new growth has developed fully.

Flowers appear in spring, after the first new leaves, and they are in clusters of 5, all along the branches. A mature plant will be covered in several hundred blooms, making a fantastic display. The flowers are unique, with 4 slender petals, about 1-inch long, strap-like and slightly twisted, making the ‘fingers’ of the jazz musician they so much evoke. They are colored a rich, bright, almost fluorescent pink, and the contrast against the purple-red foliage is amazing. Flowering lasts a full month – plenty of time to soak up the beauty of this gorgeous and remarkable plant.

Using the Jazz Hands® Dwarf Pink Loropetalum in Your Garden

This superb plant looks good anywhere in your garden, mixed with other shrubs or as a single specimen. It is perfect for courtyards and Asian-style gardens, or for planting in front of evergreens, where it will really glow. It also fits well into woodland settings, like a remarkable box of jewels stumbled upon in the woods. It is a perfect choice for a planter box or pot, where it will be raised off the ground and make a very prominent specimen even while young.

Hardiness

The Jazz Hands Dwarf Pink Loropetalum is hardy from zone 7 to zone 9, and in zone 10 in California, but not in the humidity of southern Florida. In zone 7 it is normally fully deciduous.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

The Jazz Hands Dwarf Pink Loropetalum is remarkable for its ability to grow in both full sun and light full shade. This makes it very easy to place in your garden, so put it wherever you think it will look best. The leaf colors will be stronger in the sun, and may turn greenish in summer in full shade, but the plant will still thrive. Don’t plant it in heavy shade, such as beneath large evergreen trees. It prefers to grow in moist, rich, well-drained acidic soil, but it is very adaptable, and it grows well in almost all richer garden soils. Unless your soil is very alkaline, go ahead, your bush should be just fine. In containers use potting soils blended for acid-loving plants. Once established it is remarkably drought resistant, although it prefers even moisture throughout the seasons.

Maintenance and Pruning

No fancy care is needed, and even pruning is optional. If you want to do a little shaping of your bush, prune immediately after flowering, but this plant is perhaps best left to develop its own natural form. Pests and diseases are normally not a problem. Some fall mulch will protect the roots, especially in zone 7, and conserve moisture during summer as well.

History and Origin of the Jazz Hands® Dwarf Pink Loropetalum

The Ever Red Loropetalum is a form of the Chinese fringe flower, Loropetalum chinense. That tree grows naturally in open woodlands in China, Japan, and other parts of south-east Asia, and it can be 10 feet tall and wide. There are two distinct forms of this plant. One has white to pale-yellow flowers, and green leaves. The other, called ‘variety rubrum’, has pink flowers and reddish leaves. Although relatively new in America, these plants have been grown in China and Japan for a long time, and it is there that most new forms are being created.

Yuji Suzuki, who lives in Kawaguchi, Japan, is one of the most prolific and talented of those breeders. He has created several new varieties of Loropetalum, but his ‘`KURENAI` is certainly one of the very best. He found it as a seedling among a group grown from a cross between a variety called `Kurohikari` and one of his own plants, named `8-21`. This vigorous plant was patented in the US by Spring Meadow Nursery, Inc. of Grand Haven, Michigan, and marketed as Dwarf Pink in their Jazz Hands® collection of Loropetalum varieties.

Buying the Jazz Hands® Dwarf Pink Loropetalum at The Tree Center

Undoubtedly one of the very best dwarf Loropetalum you can grow, this vigorous shrub with contrasting foliage and flowers is a real winner – and so versatile. Don’t hesitate to try something new – these plants are not difficult, despite their exotic appearance. Order now, while we have stock.