We originally planted this eye catching and bountiful shrub by default. I had been after an obscure shade loving shrub whose name I have long forgotten, so when this bare rooted, twiggy plant arrived (out of leaf) in late winter, in it went and I didn’t give it further thought. Until that is, I spotted the first pearl-like buds appearing in early spring and followed soon after by an abundance of snowy white flowers which had a very long season.
I quickly realised that we had been sent the wrong plant, but I didn’t care; our Exochorda is one of the most glorious planting mistakes we have made in our
So, this hardy, deciduous shrub is pest and disease free, and demands nothing more than a hard prune after flowering in order to keep the arching branches in check. Hardly surprising then to see that it has been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society’s award of
A word of warning about the cultivar name of ‘The Bride’. One might imagine that a few twigs of this spring flowering shrub would be the perfect bridal bouquet, but in my experience, it has a very short life as a cut flower and would probably not last the walk down the aisle!
NB Louise has published a beautifully produced book of her plant profiles – A Plant for Each Week of the Year. It costs £9.99 and is for sale in our online shop here.
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