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Slender deutzia

Katja Schulz from Washington, D. C., USA / Wikimedia Commons - CC BY 2.0

Slender deutzia

Deutzia gracilis

A compact, neat, mounding deciduous shrub from Japan that in late spring is smothered in sprays of pure-white, star-shaped flowers along arching stems. Slender deutzia (Deutzia gracilis) is one of the easiest and most reliable spring-flowering shrubs for a small garden: undemanding once established, trouble-free, and modest in size, it earns its place at the front of a border, as low informal hedging, or as a foundation filler. The popular form 'Nikko' is even more compact and adds burgundy-purple autumn foliage. It flowers on old wood, so the one rule that matters is to prune it right after flowering - take out some of the oldest stems for renewal rather than shearing the whole plant. Grown purely for ornament; it is not edible. In bloom it is a modest bee plant, but its real job is a dependable, low-fuss curtain of white in late spring.

Climate fit: narrow (30/100)

Border

Filler

Pollinator

Light

Full sun / Part shade

Water

Moderate water

Mature size

2-3.5 ft tall · 3 ft apart

Hardy in zones

5a-8b

very cold to frosty winters

Native in Illinois

No

Related products

Cold hardiness

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

Plotwright

USDA Zone 6b

-5°F to 0°F

Well-suited

2050

2100

Zone 7a

Plotwright

0°F to 5°F

Well-suited

In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 37 ecoregions - 24 climate-resilient through 2070 · 5 suited today · 8 newly possible by 2070. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

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Arizona Mountains forests

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Atlantic coastal pine barrens

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Blue Mountains forests

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

Colorado Rockies forests

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Perennial

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Daylily

A tough, clump-forming herbaceous perennial whose common name comes from its bloom habit - each flower opens for a single day, but a well-budded scape opens fresh blooms in succession over weeks. Modern garden daylilies are overwhelmingly hybrids, with more than 60,000 cultivars registered, in nearly every color but true blue. Full-size classics like 'Hyperion' carry fragrant, 4-inch flowers on naked scapes rising to about 3 feet above arching, blade-like foliage; the plants tolerate rabbits, erosion, and urban conditions and ask very little once established.

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Educator packet

Plant packet

Slender deutzia educator packet

A compact, neat, mounding deciduous shrub from Japan that in late spring is smothered in sprays of pure-white, star-shaped flowers along arching stems. Slender deutzia (Deutzia gracilis) is one of the easiest and most reliable spring-flowering shrubs for a small garden: undemanding once established, trouble-free, and modest in size, it earns its place at the front of a border, as low informal hedging, or as a foundation filler. The popular form 'Nikko' is even more compact and adds burgundy-purple autumn foliage. It flowers on old wood, so the one rule that matters is to prune it right after flowering - take out some of the oldest stems for renewal rather than shearing the whole plant. Grown purely for ornament; it is not edible. In bloom it is a modest bee plant, but its real job is a dependable, low-fuss curtain of white in late spring.

Scientific name

Deutzia gracilis

Plant type

shrub

Hardiness

5a-8b

Light

full-sun, part-shade

Moisture

moderate

Spacing

36 inches