Is there a hardy shrub with pink foliage?

I don't mean red or purple, I mean pink or magenta foliage, something that could be hardy to zone 7b and tolerant of our heat, humidity, and cold winters.

thanks anyone, I'm probably dreaming again...lol

Some burning bushes (Euonymus alatus) have a hot pink color. Most are red or red-orange. You would have to buy it when the plant is showing its fall color. Not sure how well they would grow in such a warm zone though.

I've never seen any that look pink, so I'll have to look

Only in autumn colour. You won't find it in summer. The closest you can probably get is Fagus sylvatica 'Purpurea Tricolor', which has pink edges to purple leaves in spring

There's two good reasons for this -
First, the green of chlorophyll, mixed with pink anthocyanin pigments, makes purple. To be pink, a plant would have to have no chlorophyll, and without chlorophyll, it cannot photosynthesize. The best is (as in the 'Purpurea Tricolor' case) is to have leaves which are partly chlorophyll-free (pink) but with other parts of the leaves with chlorophyll (purple) so it can photosynthesize and grow.

Second - and this is a real problem with 'Purpurea Tricolor' - the pink parts of leaves are very sensitive to sunburn. By late summer, the pink edges are all usually a rather nasty crispy brown. Not very attractive!

Resin

I'm partial to this willow....and it survives my cold winters and anything summer can throw at it.....beautiful leaves in spring that stay pink most of the summer.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/108853/

thanks for the ideas

It might be worth your while to take a look at some Japanese Maples. The recently introduced "Ghost" series has some excellent coloration, though as resin says - true pink is not found. In 7b afternoon shade would be almost a necessity. A nearly all pink is Acer palmatum "Geisha"( not a Ghost introduction).

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/78116/

This message was edited Oct 26, 2007 8:54 PM

I'd say the most pink for a tree or shrub would be Acer negundo 'Flamingo' which has real pink new growth. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/121537/ Another tree is Cedrela sinensis 'Flamingo' http://www.virtualplanttags.com/vpt.asp?pID=39251&co=410087&cID=670&pr=1 which is more of a maroon.
Nandina domestica has some pink cultivars as well as there's a Spirea out there with pink foliage. Not sure which one. If you're in a coastal situation, you might want to see if Phormiums will survive as there are several pink cultivars including 'Jester'.

I had not even thought of Japanese Maples....wow...these are great. Love the pink 'Flamingos'! I did find a couple of phormiums that are supposed to be hardy here too...and the nandinas...this is great

Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Goshiki' the name refers to five colors one being pink is the color of the new growth. This may not be enough pink for what you have in mind but you might consider it as a companion accent shrub. It would be very happy in your zone and would relish in the humidity. kt

I found another plant with pink foliage, well it starts out pink and changes during the season. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/83278/ Acer pseudoplatanus 'Brilliantissimum' http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/images/acpsb85.jpg

Flowering Quince has some varieties that are pink. lhttp://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/78966/ Flowering Almond is a beautiful spring flowering bush http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/65085/, and some wigelia are quite nice and pink. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/175/. When I lived in Kennewick Washington, we had all of these and they survived our 100 degree summers, our winters are not real harsh usually but we had some COLD (at zero) ones occassionally.

Many, many years ago, I had A.p.'Brilliantissimum' for several years in my veggie garden, just to see it. Excellent color, not washed out at all and better than the oregon state pic, IMO. If I remember right (and I am not sure about this), it wasn't completely hardy in my zone 4a. And back then, it was when we had real winters.

Today at the nursery where I work we were cleaning an area and there was a group of Acers in containers towards the back. My co-worker said, "those are really nice Maples. We should move them so more people see them." I looked at the tag and it was Acer p. Brilliantissimum which I have been looking for for quite some time. About 6' and all grafted rather high. I immediately thought of this thread on pink foliaged plants.

I'm so glad to see so many suggestions to try in the spring! It's funny because I'm not a fan of pink outside of the garden, it really makes a difference in my tropical beds. Keep the ideas coming, I know I'll have this thread saved for spring :)

Two of my viburnums have late fall pink color - witherod viburnum (V. cassinoides) and maple-leafed viburnum (V. acerifolium)

Young leaves of Salix Hakura Nishiki have
very pretty pink splotches.

About the Salix Hakura Nishiki, you're right. The shrub, which is sometimes grafted onto a standard as a tree, does have fairly attractive pink with white varigation on new growth. And as you get lots and lots and lots and lots and lots (did I say lots?) of new growth in a single growing season the varigation is produced at least through late June early July in zone 5. I had the standard form. For 5 years. It met with a chainsaw last August. It was impossible to keep properly shaped. The appearance was that of an enormous shrub stuck on top of a pole. It could grow ten feet in 8 to 10 weeks! I tried pruning first in just late February or early March. This just caused it to explode. I tried late winter pruning with shaping through the season. It exploded more. I began pruning the tips off evey new shoot every two weeks. It grew with renewed fury. It became a war between me and that $@&! shrub/tree. As I approached with the purning loppers it would stand a little taller and I swear it was laughing at me. Finally my DH said enough! I was spending more time with the shrub than with him. Husqvarna and I had the last laugh.

It's a personal decision why people like things grafted on straight standards. Myself, I don't go for any of them, but Hakuro Nishiki certainly is about the worst thing anyone has ever used for this purpose.

You are a wise person Leftwood. I had a constricted full sun space next to a koi pond where a true small weeper would have looked lovely. I believed the nursery hype because I wanted to. Dumb, dumb dumb.

The Salix seems to behave ok here but then we have coolish summers. Here it is planted as a shrub without the graft.

Here it is, totally out of control. About two months after a light shearing.

Wow, that's quite Phillis Diller compared to the knee-high plant I photographed.

Knee high I could have lived with. I'm still looking for a replacement. Too much southern and western sun for a Japanese Maple. I'm thinking a weeping evergreen. Let it come forward over the pond a bit. I should post this as a stand alone topic. I don't want to hijack Tropicanna's thread.

I don't mind a bit! lol, I think hi-jacking is a great way to learn totally new information :)

That really is quite a tree and I had no idea about the grafting deal, so thanks so much

Rose Glow Barberry has burgundy foliage in summer, but the new growth is a swirl of pink and cream!

I would like to deliver this in a soft fuzzy way but I must admit I am shocked that PA has not spread the word that Rose Glow Barberry is on the invasive/state banned list from the New England States north of you. This shrub can no longer legally be sold in MA beautiful shrub but highly invasive. kt

Runktrun,

Has crimson pygmy barberry been banned also?

DL

Rose Glow Barberry is widely sold and planted here. I removed a large one two years ago. Not because I felt it a problem but because we wanted a complete front yard re-landscaping. Although the shrub grew well, there were never any seedlings. It does not seem to appear in any waste land, vacant lots, roadsides or ditches either. You don't see it outside of cultivation. It must me one of those plants that can be problematic in some areas but not others. At least not yet!

I practice my craft here in the Ohio River valley, but I appreciate the goings-on elsewhere.

I'd wager that MA has banned Berberis thunbergii, so clones of this Japanese barberry species fit the bill. 'Rose Glow', 'Crimson Pygmy', and others will behave the same way (as long as they are fruit producers).

I have to also believe that the invasive behavior is most often exhibited on more acidic soils -- maybe the reason snapple hasn't seen the plant run loose in northern OH, yet.

Could be VV. But, I live in the "Oak Openings" and "Irwin Prarie" area which has acidic sandy soil. The habitat is sand barrens. I've done volunteer field work for both the ODNR and the Nauture Conservancy. It just hasn't shown up any where outside of cultivation. Odd.

snapple,
I think it is interesting to try and unravel the set of common denominators that determine the environment for a plant to start exhibiting invasive tendencies. My property is on a Sandplain with a ph in non cultivated areas of 4.4 and prior to my removing 'Rose Glow' it had fairly rapidly started showing up in the cultivated and non cultivated area's of my property (and surely my neighbors) they were somewhat easy (although painful) to remove. I have posted a link to the list of banned plants in MA if memory serves me correctly this was passed two and a half years ago after state legislators went to the nursery industry and asked them to come up with a proposed list of banned plants. The list they came up with was reasonably complete and the bill passed in record time. I do now however see the need for regional tweaking for example I would love to see nurseries in my neck of the woods stop selling clematis ternifolia ‘sweet autumn’ clematis as it has become a problem, yet not too many counties west it is a well behaved beauty. kt
ooops... edited to correct ph level !!!!

http://www.mass.gov/agr/farmproducts/proposed_prohibited_plant_list_v12-12-05.htm


This message was edited Jan 2, 2008 2:50 PM

Huh!? Go figure. The Ph here, and by here I mean very locally and confined to the sand barrens, is only mildly acidic - 6.5. The plus is that you can grow a very wide variety of plants with little soil adjustment. Delphiniums and Gypsophilia do struggle here. Rhododendrons can get 20 ft+. The negative to sand barrens soil is that it is a constant necessity to add enough compost for water retention. There are some places that drain so fast you literally can't fill a planting hole with a running hose at 40psi! I've been incorporating oak leaf compost since 1980 and just in the last five years or so have I had 'friable' soil to a depth of about 14-18".

I agree that one area's scourge plant can be another area's well behaved plant. I think the answer lies in educating the gardener coupled with an active state Department of Natural Resources or Departrment of Agriculture. In Ohio, there has not been much done at all about invasive ornamentals. Unless the plant begins to pose a threat to agriculture it's hard to get any action. Next month I begin the Ohio Master Gardener program. (I'm so excited!) I hope to learn there the "Official" line about invasive ornamentals, because it isn't apparent to the average gardener if there is any policy.

I've heard of some people having trouble with the Sweet Autumn Clematis but it was great for me. In the years I had it (at a previous house) I only had ONE volunteer. I LOVE that plant so I was surprised when I heard others bad mouth it!

A bit late in the thread but I've found that the best way to deal w/ Salix Hakura Nishiki is to coppice it every year. I've found it to be a very nice plant once you become alpha and set the tone.

pH 4.4 is the corrected value? Yikes! I had always just assumed that your acidic soils were around 5-5.5. Don't know where I got that from. But five to ten times that . . . . gracious!

Coppice! Alpha? Nay Nay! Tried that. It looked like a large electrified frizz ball on a pole.
I believe I must have had a mutant variant. No kidding! It had sports every year that had curled/twisted leaves. At first I chalked them up to herbicide drift. Eventually I realized that there was no spraying any where near to be a cause. It was, on balance, a hilarous experience, and just a tad expensive and time consuming. Alpha. Hmpf.

I killed off my Salix Hakura Nishiki in late summer. I was losing the battle with the suckers and the height(15') for the space. I wouldn't say it's a bad tree - just not for the city.