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PHOTINIA GUIDES

photinia red robin leaves

Common ProblemsContainer GrowingPropagationPruningRed Robin

Photinia ‘ Red Robin ’ is almost a garden cliché due to its popularity , but there is good grounds for that and it could still be a keen alternative for your garden .

Many gardeners and landscapist select this utile bush for their gardens – but just because this is a common choice , does n’t mean that it ’s one to obviate .

a photinia x fraseri red robin shrub in a park

Growing with White Mignonette

On the contrary , this is a plant which cultivate very well in many garden in the UK and which could be an excellent choice for your own garden .

Overview

PreferredFull Sun or Partial Shade

ExposureExposed or shelter

Height2.5 – 4 grand

Photinia Red Robin which has been shaped into a round tree

Spread2.5 – 4 M

Bloom TimeApril – May

PreferredClay , loam , George Sand

winter foliage of christmas berry shrub

MoistureMoist but well drained

pHNeutral / Acidic

Photinia , technicallyPhotiniaxfraseri‘Red Robin ’ is a popular red - leave behind cultivar of Photinia , also hump as ‘ Christmas Berry ’ .

Christmas berry shrub planted in an open grassy area with green hedging in the background

This is a family of North American and Asiatic shrubs – with most of those used in gardens being frame of the hybridP.xfraseri – evergreen plant hybrids which are grown for their colourful young foliage.1Photinia . ( n.d . ) . Kew Royal Botanic Gardens . recall March 22 , 2023 , fromhttps://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30014031-2

These were developed from Asian mintage of this genus ; though they do bloom , they do so sparsely , with belittled , creamy - blanched flowers in spring .

‘ Red Robin ’ is an middle - catching example of this chemical group of evergreen hybrids .

A row of Photinia Red Robin sprigs ready to be planted into pre-dug holes

It has smart cherry young grown , and folio reverse to a glowering , shining shade of cat valium as they mature .

While the loan-blend originated at the Fraser Nursery in Alabama ( hence its name ) the ‘ Red Robin ’ cultivar was subsequently developed in New Zealand.2Photinia × fraseri “ Red Robin . ”(n.d . ) . Missouri Botanical Garden . remember March 22 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=271346

It has since become by far the most popular of all Photinias grown in gardens .

Pruned ‘Red Robin’ hedges in a front garden

Why Grow Photinia ‘Red Robin’?

Photinia ‘ Red Robin ’ is a useful and low - maintenance ornamental shrub which can be useful for a garden perimeter .

It works very well as a bush for gardeners who bid to burst up the park and regain colourful foliage flora to bring year - beat colour and interest to their garden .

It is H5 hardy , and should usually see through the wintertime with no return , though young foliage can sometimes get nonaged frost damage .

photinia x fraseri red robin growing with upright plumes of reseda alba

Growing with White Mignonette

you’re able to grow this bush in a boundary line , or as part of a hedging – it can really be a very good choice for hedging as it is easy to shape .

This also mean that it can be an fantabulous shrubfor topiary , and can be shape in a chain of mountains of different way – as a distinctive bush , or in a standard tree or pleached tree diagram type form .

“ I fuck to grow shrubs likePhotinia‘Red Robin ’ as criterion in delimitation , ” shares Master Horticulturist Colin Skelly .

“ This let light to penetrate the ground , earmark the planting of perennials and bulb to create a substantial layering of plant through space and meter . ”

It can be keep relatively little , or farm up to around 5 m tall ; the Royal Horticultural Society has given this industrial plant the Award of Garden Merit .

Note that if ‘ Red Robin ’ is too magnanimous for your needs , there is also a late introduced cultivar , ‘ petty Red Robin ’ .

This is a dwarf variety show more suitable to minuscule gardens or to growing in container – it typically has a spread and height of no more than a measure or so .

How To Grow Photinia ‘Red Robin’

Photinia ‘ Red Robin ’ will acquire well in full Dominicus or fond tad , but in fact , it can survive in a bed with any aspect in your garden – be it south , east , west or north - facing – as long as it is not in cryptical shade .

It can normally cope in sheltered or exposed condition – however , due to the potential difference for frost harm , it can be best to point this Photinia in a comparatively shelter fleck , out of any frost pockets , if you survive in a cooler , more northerly placement .

WhatP.xfraseri‘Red Robin ’ will need is a fertile , humus - rich type of dirt , which is Lucius DuBignon Clay , loam or sand , and which is neutral or acidic .

It will not thrive in alkaline status ; the soil should be moist but relatively liberal - draining .

If you have threatening clay soil , you should add up sight of garden compost or well - rot manure to improve conditions before planting .

One other thing to note is that ‘ Red Robin ’ necessitate beneficial air circulation to stave off diseases .

So while it can grow well against a garden boundary fencing or wall , it should not be hemmed into a corner , or have planting around it which is too obtuse .

‘ Red Robin ’ is well implant in spring or autumn . However , you could buy container - grown plants throughout the twelvemonth .

Just avoid planting Photinia during desiccated and very red-hot periods in the summertime , or when the ground is freeze in winter .

If you do flora in summer – take note that your Photinia will require a pot of watering over the first few months until it becomes established .

When planting a container - grown Photinia , verify that you dig a hole reduplicate the width of the container , progress to certain that the depth is correct so that the plant will sit at the same floor that it did in the bay window .

It can be helpful to add a handful of blood fish and ivory organic fertilizer to the bottom of the planting hole where grime birth rate is not optimum , to get this bush off to a good startle .

rate the plant carefully into the hole you have prepared , and fill the soil back in around the plant , tamp it down firmly but gently ; water the shrub in well .

If you wish to make a hedge of ‘ Red Robin ’ , the plant are usually position at a spacing of 75 cm .

Mulch around the Photinia you have institute with a undecomposed tone organic mulch to retain pee , tot food and suppress sens .

Photinia ‘Red Robin’ Care

Over time , Photinia ‘ Red Robin ’ will be an easy plant and will require little guardianship and attending .

However , you will demand to irrigate during dry geological period over the first couplet of produce seasons .

Replenish the mulch and view fertilising with an organic fertiliser each spring and fall for the first distich of old age .

However , after a couple of growing season , a ‘ Red Robin ’ grown in the ground should not require much more attending from you at all .

One last affair to mention is that you should give careful thought to what is constitute around your ‘ Red Robin ’ .

These shrubs do not compete well with overly thirsty or athirst neighbours and may suffer if placed too tight to particularly vigorous plants .

palisade the Photinia with smaller , slow - grow plant that mesh well with the colourful foliation of the ‘ Red Robin ’ is best .

Some instance of sound neighbours for a ‘ Red Robin ’ shrub include variegatedEuonymous cultivar , Hebe‘Rhubarb and Custard ’ , and on acidic land site , small Japanese Acers , andPieris – perhaps with ground cover version ofPachysandra terminalis‘Variegata ’ underneath .

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