Shrub · North Texas care guide
Loropetalum chinense
Nursery Pro tip: Burgundy foliage year-round plus pink fringe flowers. Purple Pixie stays low.
Burgundy-purple evergreen foliage year-round and hot-pink fringe flowers in March — the most color you can get from a shrub that asks for nothing. Size varies enormously by variety: 'Purple Pixie' stays 2 ft and weeps, 'Ruby' runs 4–5 ft, and the older 'Plum Delight' type becomes a 10-ft shrub or small tree.
Full sun keeps the leaves darkest; part shade is fine and the leaves go greener. Wants drainage and dislikes the highest-pH spots. Check the tag for mature size before you plant it under a window — most loropetalum problems are really a big variety in a small space.
Fall or spring. Hole twice the pot width, ball at grade, native soil mixed with a little compost, Root Stimulator, mulch.
Twice a week the first month, weekly the first summer, then every week or two in the heat.
Acid-loving or azalea fertilizer in early spring; chelated iron if leaves fade to yellow-green in our alkaline beds.
Right after the spring bloom. Reach in and cut whole branches back to a joint rather than shearing the outside — sheared loropetalum looks like a bad haircut all summer.
Iron chlorosis in high pH. Hard freezes can burn foliage; it recovers. Root rot in soggy clay.
Terrific against green hollies and boxwood for contrast, or with Sunshine ligustrum for a purple-and-gold pairing. Underplant with liriope.
Written for Rockwall's black clay, heat and winters by the Landscape Source team. Every yard is different — bring a photo by, or ask LS-Ai, and we'll tailor it to your spot.