Gold 'n Rubies Spirea - Spirea japonica Gold n' Rubies

A lovely miniature garden shrub with year-round interest. It's deciduous, the leaves in springtime emerge a wonderful yellow-green color that change to a chartreuse green color. The very pretty pink flowers follow in the early summer. In the fall, the leaves will drop to show-off the lovely reddy-brown stems.

Shear back the stems in late winter to help slow down the growth rate. Some gardeners shear them back in the fall. You can also prune it back after flowering too. You can do a little of all three if you choose but do shear this back to keep it small and bushy. For overgrown bushes, you can cut the stems back to 8 to 12 inches from the ground in the fall - then keep it in check with regular pruning/shearing.

If the leaves come out too big during the growing season, just cut that branch so you can show off the smaller leaves underneath but wait until after it flowers so you don't cut the flowers off.

• Gold foliage in the springtime turn chartreuse for the summer
• Prominent red-pink flower bud come out in the summertime and open up to very pretty pink blooms in summer
• Leaves drop in autumn which shows the lovely red stems for the winter

• Globe shape
• Less than 2" to 3" per year - you can trim it in winter to slow this down

• Cold hardy to zones 5 to 7, or hardy to -20F
• Heat hardy to zones 9 - 1
• Full sun, can tolerate some shade

• Pot is 4" in diameter
• An outdoor plant