Oriental Photinia

I have a Photinia villosa var. maximowizciana that I planted here at our rural property South of Glenwood, Minnesota. It grows nicely her...Read Moree and is an absolutely beautiful small shrub/tree at this point. This Photinia appears to be very hardy, which is part of reason why I purchased it. I lucked out, because I got the variation 'Maximowizciana', which I think is way more beautiful than the standard species. The standard species isn't all that easy to find in the US either, and it should be. I have been attempting to create quite a Botanical Garden on our property, and so far, I seem to be succeeding. This Photinia is planted between two Prunus serotina or Black Cherry tree's, and it is currently leafing out as I type this on 9 May of 2024. The leaves emerge with a splendid bronze - red colour that soon changes to a nice dark green as they mature. This tree has not flowered for me just yet, but I think there may be blooms this year, now that the tree has matured enough. The blooms will be clusters of small white flowers, much like a Hawthorn, which later mature into small, bright red fruits. I have also heard of this tree being referred to as a 'Christmas Berry Tree'. I am looking very forward to seeing the fruits, hopefully this year. This is a very underused shrub/tree that should be way more popular than it currently is! It is such a gorgeous tree, and everyone who comes to visit us, always ask what it is. I love weird and bizarre plants, and I think this particular Photinia villosa var. maximowicziana is definitely one of them! It gets 5 stars from me, for sure.

We've only had our plant for a couple years now and it's still quite small. It does grow at a decent pace so I'm sure it will be a nice ...Read Moresize in a few years. Flowers are pretty and very much resemble chokeberry flowers. Ours hasn't really berried due to its young age. I will say that our plant does get bothered by aphids on the tips of new stems. They are easily dispatched with Neem oil spray. Fall color is supposed to be pretty good but again, ours is still new and young for a real evaluation on that.

The plants in the Arnold Arboretum (Boston Z6a) are upright and vase-shaped, much more tree-like than shrub-like, and reach 15' tall. The...Read More habit is like a serviceberry (Amelanchier).

Attractive for its shape, its fall color, and its display of red fruit.

Best in full sun and well-drained acid soil. It's best left unpruned, or lightly thinned in winter.

Dirr says that this plant is rarely planted in eastern N. America because of its susceptibility to fireblight. I haven't seen any fireblight on the Arnold specimens.

A deciduous shrub of up to 18 ft, it has a dense crown. The 3" leaves provide various colors throughout the year. In autumn they change ...Read Morefrom yellow, then bronze to red. The birds love the bright red berries in the fall.