Photinia amazes everyone with their bright red leaves.
Photinia key facts:
Name – Photinia x fraseri
Family – Rosaceae
Height – 3 to 10 feet (1 to 3 m)
Exposure: full sun
Soil: ordinary
Foliage: evergreen – Flowering: spring
Planting, pruning and care are steps that help blooming and growth for your Photinia.
Hardiness: 5°F or -15°C, zone 7+ (USA) or H5+ (UK)
Photinia loves the sun. Note that it also needs a lot of water, especially in summer.
It is the best season to plant. Photinia are best planted in fall to promote root development.
In fall, photinia won’t have any red leaves: they’re all green by this time!
The best time is November; however, you can plant as early as September and as late as December. Just make sure not to plant when it freezes.
Photinia can be planted in spring and even in summer if purchased in pots.
In this case, water often: the shrubs’ needs are higher, and it doesn’t yet have many roots.
Photinia is great for evergreen hedges. Long-lasting leaves and fast growth rate mean privacy is guaranteed within a few years.
For a more ornamental impact, alternate photinia with other beautiful evergreen shrubs: Abelia, Forsythia, silverberry and the occasional laurel tree.
It is possible to propagate Photinia from cuttings in summer.
The most famous variety is Photinia ‘Red Robin’. Other varieties are just as beautiful, but harder to find: ‘Red Tip’, ‘Little Red Robin’, ‘Pink Crispy’, ‘Pink Marble’ (last two have variegated leaves)…
Photinia are easy shrubs to care for, especially when well settled in.
Pruning Photinia is recommended twice a year. Once is after spring blooming. After that, prune again after growth in fall so that the shrub can be balanced or its size reduced.
It is also possible to prune ‘Red Robin’ Photinia at the end of winter. Pruning at the end of winter will give you many more red leaves, but you might not get flowers.
Photinia can be shaped as you wish: cones, spheres, columns and other topiary…
Note: Photinia will grow into a tree if not pruned. It can reach up to 20 feet (6 meters). In this respect, it’s similar to cherry laurel.
Adding all-purpose fertilizer in spring will boost growth and make the leafage magnificent.
Although Photinia is very resilient and won’t often get diseased, sometimes the following may occur.
If you have a photinia not bearing flowers, there are usually two reasons. Sometimes both are at play.
Red is the colour of new growth only: every leaf turns green as it matures. A photinia showing no red at all is simply a shrub that has not put out a flush recently. Three things bring one on:
Photinia is one of the many woody plants that may fall victim to armillaria root rot. If the shrub shows signs of decline (wilting) and dies suddenly the following year, this might be the culprit.
Photinia × fraseri is a garden hybrid, raised in the 1940s at Fraser Nurseries in Alabama from a cross between two Asian species. The variety almost everyone grows, ‘Red Robin’, was selected later in New Zealand.
This red-leaved shrub is an ornamental shrub, in beds and in hedges. However, you can also plant it as a standalone.
Abundant leaves quickly make the shrub opaque, which makes it one of the most commonly planted evergreen hedge shrubs.
Its main feature is that its leaves switch colors: deep red for young leaves, then they slowly turn green as they mature.
This magnificent shrub fits perfectly into any hedge. Try out combinations with many other species: butterfly bush, viburnum, cotinus …
→ Shown here with forsythia.
It’s also very resistant to sea spray and will do great as a coastal garden plant, together with sea orache and silverberry, for instance.
Red is the colour of new growth only: every leaf turns green as it matures. A shrub with no red at all has simply not put out a flush recently. A trim is the surest trigger — which is why clipped hedges stay redder than free-growing shrubs — helped by a spring feed and enough sun.
Twice a year: after the spring flowering, then again in autumn to balance the shape or reduce its size. Pruning at the end of winter gives a great many more red leaves, but sacrifices that year’s flowers — a deliberate trade-off, not a mistake.
About 3 feet (1 m) between plants for a hedge of around 6 feet (1.8 m). Closer than that gives a lower, denser screen. Bear in mind that an unpruned photinia passes 10 feet (3 m), so do not give it too little room.
Usually one of two reasons, sometimes both: pruning at the end of winter, which removes the flower buds, or too little light. A shrub growing mostly in shade may not flower at all; thinning the branches of the tree above it will often be enough.
Photinia is prone to black spot. It rarely threatens the shrub’s life, but it disfigures the foliage and spreads in damp, still air — so avoid watering the leaves, and clear fallen ones.
It is a fast grower. Kept trimmed it stays between 3 and 10 feet (1 to 3 m); left alone it becomes a small tree of up to 20 feet (6 m), rather as cherry laurel does.
Photinia flowers are a great source of nectar and pollen for bees, plant one as a standalone to attract beneficial insects to your garden! Be careful to only prune your photinia after it flowers, in Spring.
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Can I transplant photinia from one barrel to another on 5/2/21. How much roots can be removed? What is the best planting soil to use? Thank you!
Hi Rosemary, yes, it’s still OK to transplant your photinia this coming week-end. Up to half of the root system can be removed, which is probably inevitable. But what’s very important is to remember to prune your photinia by at least a third, ideally half. The less roots you remove, the less you have to prune your photinia, this is key for success in transplanting. As for soil, as long as you use fresh planting soil, any brand or type will do. You can even save by mixing in garden soil if you’ve any. Drainage at the bottom of the barrel is important, too, so get your hand on gravel or clay beads or the like.
I have several red robins in my garden in France, some have white flowers and some don’t what is the difference?
Hi Shirley! It’s not a question of male or female shrubs as it happens in holly and yaupon. Normally all photinia shrubs should be able to bear flowers. The two main reasons why they wouldn’t is underexposure (not enough direct sunlight) or premature pruning.
There’s also a tiny chance that there was a mix-up in the varieties, leading to either a “different” red robin strand or to a shrub that’s altogether different, but that’s a remote possibility.