Loropetalum chinense, an end-of-winter flower shrub

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Loropetalum chinense is a nice winter-blooming bush.

Loropetalum chinense facts

Name – Loropetalum chinense
Family – Hamamelidaceae
Type – shrub

Height – 5 to 6 ½ feet (1.5 to 2 meters)
Exposure – full sun, part sun

Soil: rather rich  –  Foliage: deciduous  –  Blooming: end of winter → early spring

Here are our tips on caring for it  to embellish its blooming and growth.

Planting Loropetalum chinense

The planting of Loropetalum chinense is usually in fall, but if purchased in a pot or container, you can plant in spring or summer while avoiding frost spells and days of intense heat.

• Loropetalum chinense loves the sun, especially in winter, but it abominates it if it is sweltering hot in summer.
• Light shade in the afternoon in summer is ideal.
• If you shelter your Loropetalum chinense from cold wind, you’ll be extending its winter blooming.
• Follow our advice on planting shrubs

Potted Loropetalum chinense

Loropetalum chinense is a shrub perfectly suited to growing in pots.

If you’re lucky to have a terrace that can welcome a large pot, you’ll be able to grow Loropetalum chinense in a container, because its growth is slow and its “adult” size is quite small.

Note also that Loropetalum chinense is particularly hardy to the cold, so growing it in pots is all the more possible.

• Ensure that you have proper drainage.
• Fill the pot in with good soil mix.
• Provide fertilizer once a year.
• Water in case of heat wave or prolonged dry spell because plants in pots need water more often.

Care and pruning for Loropetalum chinense

Caring for Loropetalum chinense is easy and its hardiness makes it almost invulnerable to most diseases as it does to insect attacks or parasites.

• No pruning is actually needed, particularly so because its growth is rather slow.
• Remove dead/dry wood regularly, especially at the end of summer.
• If you must balance or reduce the branches, it’s rather better to wait for the blooming to end.

Watering Loropetalum chinense

Watering is needed on a regular basis for Loropetalum chinense when it’s hot and during the 2 first years after planting.

In winter, if it really doesn’t rain and the ground is dry, water when it isn’t freezing to ensure you’ll have proper blooming.

• In summer, always favor watering in the evening to keep water from evaporating.
• In winter, water during the daytime and never in the evening.
• There should only be watering in winter if it isn’t freezing.

Learn more about Loropetalum chinense

Loropetalum chinense flowers are remarkable thanks to their uniqueness and their fragrance especially because they appear right in the middle of winter.

Loropetalum chinense doesn’t always lose its leaves, it depends on where it’s growing.

Easy to care for and simple to grow, this shrub is particularly appealing when planted as a standalone, but it can also become part of a mixed hedge.

• It is considered to be one of the most beautiful winter blooming shrubs and rare are those who don’t agree!

Loropetalum chinense is perfectly suited to growing in a small garden because of two things. First, its growth is very slow, and second, even when it has become a mature tree it is still quite small.

Lastly, let us note that it is quite invulnerable to diseases and parasites which makes it an easy tree to care for.