Plant Characteristics
- Zone: (4)5-8
- Height: 3-6'
- Spread: to 5'
- Bloom: White racemes
- Bloom time: May-June
This small, evergreen shrub with leathery leaves, is easy to grow and
quite adaptable as a garden shrub. Native to Virginia,
Georgia, and Tennessee mountains, it is increasing in popularity
because of its versatility, excellent variegated leaves, and drooping
panicles of creamy-white flowers in spring, which are ideal to cut for
floral arrangements. What makes the leaves so desirable is the showy
combination of leaf variegation, which is in shades of green, pink, cream,
and bronze. The bronze becomes even more noticeable in the fall. In the
garden the attractive leaves tend to add a bright spot of leaf color when
used among other evergreen and deciduous plants. Flowers appear in drooping
clusters along the branch and are somewhat similar to the flowers of the
Lily-of-the-valley perennial or Pieris shrub.