Sizzling Pink Fringe Flower

Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep, extensive root system. Provide well drained soil, rich in organic matter. Feed with an acid fertilizer after bloom. Keep roots cool with a thick layer of mulch. Pruning time: fall after flowering.

The perfect alternative to fuchsia in colder regions, where it may stay in the ground year-round. It's a double bonus with bronze foliage and bright pink flowers. Plant around the edges of shade gardens or at posts of overhead arbors and patio covers. Spot into your shrub and perennial beds to make them pop with color. Use as foundation planting around outdoor living spaces, where you and the hummingbirds will enjoy it up close. Makes a great patio, porch or balcony plant when grown in a big ceramic pot (avoid red clay, which will clash with both foliage and flowers).

Fringe Flower needs lots of green plants to frame its hot color. Consider the bright green of Shiny Xylosma (Xylosma congestum), Glossy Abelia (Abelia x grandiflora) or Japanese Mock Orange (Pittosporum tobira). For more unusual forms and textures, consider the well-behaved Alphonse Karr Bamboo (Bambusa multiplex 'Alphonse Karr') and big-leaved Japanese Aralia (Fatsia japonica). For a tropical theme, consider planting Fringe Flower as background for the surprisingly hardy Mediterranean Fan Palm (Chamaerops humilis).

This genus was classified by Robert Brown (1773-1858) of Great Britain in the mid 19th century.. He named it from the Greek loros for Strap, and ptalum for petal. This is the only cultivated species in the entire genus and is native to a large part of southeast China, the Himalayas and Japan. The first purple leaf species were not discovered in the Hunan Province until 1942. This species was originally named by D. Brown as part of the closely related whitchhazels. This cultivar was introduced by Monrovia in 1998.

Loropetalum is native to China but only recently brought into cultivation in the last few decades when selections and breeding in Asia have produced interesting parents of our mordern American hybrids and cultivars.