Lovely Japanese kerria except for THAT blight!

I love this bush when it blooms in the spring and does well in this respect even when located in a quite shade location. (I think I have the `Golden Guinea`.)

And its wonderful green stems do provide winter interest BUT I am considering getting rid of it as for me it invariably it develops rust/blight during the summer and it looks terrible. I have two such japonicas and they are very far apart (one in the front and the other in the back) and both get 'struck' each summer. Anyone else see similarly? Any remedy?

I have a Kerria japonica 'Fubuki Nishiki' – variegated Japanese kerria - that I got from Raulston Arboretum. I first popped it into a pot to bulk it up, as you can see from the photo, and then put it in the ground in a relatively sunny spot. In the pot it was on the south facing balcony. In August! No burning. Which makes me wonder - perhaps this plant likes more sun than advertised. I would not have expected this of a variegated plant. Do you have it in deep shade?

I now have it in the ground in a southwest location. It seems happy.

The second picture I took at Chicago Botanic Garden. This was simply labeled a Japanese Kerria. This was in August. A part sun part shade location.

I wonder what would happen if you gave it more sun.

This message was edited Aug 16, 2020 8:01 PM

That is for sure something to consider Donna. It is just that it blooms fine in lots of shade in the spring so I just assumed it was fine in such a location overall.

I was always on the lookout for a flowering shrub that did its 'thing' (flower) in shade. And Japanese kerria seemed to fit that bill.

I wonder if one of the issues is that the dampness of the shade is causing rust. Is tha air circulation around the plant good? Is it moist at night?

I have seveal plants that are labeled for shade that do very well in more than half a day's sun. Makes me wonder.

I've never seen bilght on my kerria, but it's in 1/2 sun at least, so maybe Donna's theory is right.

Some shrubs which flower reliably in shade for me are bottlebrush buckeye, rhododendrons, corylopsis. Some viburnums, fothergilla, ninebarks also do OK in shade, though not as floriferous as in more sun.

Oh goody - perfect email!

Weerobin, I had to leave behind a viburnum carlesi, trilobum (2), opulus, dentatum (2) (not to mention 5 fothergillas). My new garden has less sun, but it has one sunny spot where I can grow a smaller viburnum and part sun part shade spots where I can grow larger ones.

I would be very grateful if you could recommend to me a smaller sun loving viburnum and a larger shade tolerant viburnum. I just took out three thorny neglected, ugly (not to mention invasive) crimson pygmy barberries. They were so poorly cared for that after 20 plus years in the ground, I was able to get their nasty suckering masses out of the ground. They were growing into an electric purple azalea. That goes next! So there is room for a sun loving shrub, and I can think of nothing better than a viburnum.

Thank you for reading, and for your ideas.

Donna

Donna, I think you need to summon the viburnum god, VV. Surely he's lurking.
All you do is rub an arabian lamp and he'll appear.
If that doesn't work, try chanting 'rhytidophylloides'... he won't be able to resist.

I'm afraid that won't work. Sending you a dmail.