Sometimes, it’s hard to find a plant that provides everything you’re looking for. You want a shrub covered with beautiful flowers but also yearn for something low maintenance. Despite what people say, you may be able to have it all if you plant a deutzia.
With over 60 species and hundreds of cultivars, you can find a wide variety of deutzia (doot-zee-uh) plants. Although these flowering shrubs vary in height and flower color, they all have lanceolate-shaped leaves and flower-covered stems. They’re all hardy plants, so they’re a great option if you prefer to spend your hours enjoying your garden rather than maintaining it.
I’ll cover the best environments for deutzia plants and introduce you to a few of the most popular species and varieties. Plus, I’ll share a few important factors to consider before adding one of these shrubs to your landscape.
Deutzia Overview
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What Is Deutzia?
Deutzias are attractive, deciduous shrubs used in ornamental landscapes. Although beautiful and hardy, they aren’t as popular as flowering shrubs like roses and azaleas. However, as people learn about the benefits of deutzia, they’re popping up in more places.
Native Area
Deutzia plants are predominantly found in East Asia, with the highest diversity in Northeast China.
The vast majority of deutzia species are native to temperate regions in East Asia. Northeast China has the largest variety of deutzia plants, but these plants are also native to parts of Japan. A few species are also native to Central America and Europe.
Characteristics
These are deciduous shrubs with lanceolate leaves, dense branching, and cascading stems.
As deciduous woody shrubs, deutzias regrow new leaves each spring. The oppositely arranged, lanceolate leaves have pointed tips and range in color from light to dark green. Most deutzia plants have a heavily branching form that creates a dense shrub. Some varieties grow elongated stems that branch downward, creating a pleasant cascading effect.
During the beginning or middle of spring, the plants send out long, thin stems covered with small, star-shaped flowers. The flowers range from pure white to light pink and bloom for multiple weeks. After the flowers drop, the plants produce small, dry, inconspicuous fruits.
As long as the plants are healthy, leaves remain green throughout the summer. Some varieties produce brilliant gold or deep burgundy foliage in the fall, but others show no significant color change. Regardless of the color, all deutzias lose their leaves by late fall. The shrub’s woody stems remain throughout the winter, and some varieties sport attractive, peeling bark.
Planting
Before you add a deutzia plant to your landscape, take a moment to find a location with suitable soil and sun. Remember that deutzias are perennials, so they’ll remain part of your garden for years.
Choosing a Site
Deutzia plants, with numerous species and varieties, thrive in diverse environments.
Since there are so many different deutzia species and varieties, these plants work well in a variety of sites and applications. The trick is choosing a variety that’s well-suited to your landscape.
Small deutzia shrubs work well as ground covers on slopped, barren landscapes at risk of erosion, and they also brighten up porches when grown in large containers. Medium varieties work well as a loose hedge and perform well in mixed plantings with other shrubs and flowering perennials. You can plant a row of large deutzias to form a tall hedge, use the shrubs as a background for mixed plantings, or plant single shrubs as focal pieces.
No matter what type of landscaping you envision, choose an area with well-draining soil and at least six hours of daily sun.
Transplanting
Adding deutzia shrubs to your garden is best done through purchase or obtaining from a friend.
Purchasing deutzia shrubs at a plant nursery or obtaining a plant from a friend is the best way to add one of these plants to your garden. You can transplant these shrubs in the spring or fall; plant just after the last spring frost or a month or two before the first fall frost.
Once you’ve selected a location with well-draining soil and adequate sun, dig a hole a few inches larger than the plant’s root ball. While you can plant your shrub directly into the native soil, I like to add a few handfuls of finished compost to the bottom of the hole to provide the plants with a boost of nutrients and beneficial microorganisms.
Place the root ball in the hole and cover the empty space with native soil. Water the area around the shrub until it’s moist, and continue to keep the soil moderately moist for the next few months.
Note that some species of deutzia are invasive in states across the US. Before you plant one, consult your extension office to determine if this is the case. If you’ve already purchased a dwarf plant, you can easily grow in a container instead.
Planting in Containers
Small deutzia varieties thrive in 5-10 gallon pots with drainage.
Dwarf deutzia varieties can thrive in containers if you choose the proper pot and potting soil. Select a container that’s five to ten gallons in volume, and make sure the bottom of the pot contains drainage holes. Fill half the pot with a well-draining potting mix rich in organic matter—a standard soilless potting mix based on peat moss or coco coir works well.
Place the plant’s root ball in the container, then add or remove potting soil so the top of the root ball is even with the top of the planter. Fill in the remaining space with potting soil and water well.
How to Grow
Whether you’ve inherited a property with an ancient deutzia shrub or just added a new plant yourself, knowing how to care for these shrubs is essential to their health and longevity.
Light
They thrive in both full sun and part shade, with increased sunlight resulting in more flowers.
Deutzias can grow well in both full sun and partial shade, but more sun will lead to more flowers. If you’re hoping to see your plant’s cascading stems covered in flowers during the spring, make sure it receives at least eight hours of direct sun each day.
Although these plants flourish in full sun, they’ll also remain healthy near woodland borders and on the sides of houses. However, don’t expect these partially shaded deutzias to produce as many flowers as those growing in full sun.
Water
Younger deutzia thrives in moist soil, while older shrubs require watering in prolonged hot, dry conditions.
When it comes to watering deutzias, consider the shrub’s age. Plants in their first year of growth are still getting acclimated to their new home, and their shallow root systems can’t reach water deep in the ground. Therefore, they’ll grow best in moderately moist soil. A good rule of thumb is to deeply water your deutzia plant once a week during dry conditions.
Older shrubs have extensive root systems and are less susceptible to drought stress. Therefore, you’ll only need to water them when hot and dry weather sticks around for over a week.
Soil
Deutzia plants thrive in rich, moist soil for optimal growth.
These plants prefer rich, moist soil, but they’ll also grow well in moderately moist clay, silt, and loam. As long as your soil isn’t supremely sandy, compacted, or wet, the plants will be just fine. If you’re concerned about soil compaction or drainage, you can mix in a few shovels of finished compost before planting.
Fertilizing
Use completed compost when planting deutzia instead of using fertilizer.
When planting, avoid applying fertilizer other than finished compost. It’s also best to hold off on adding fertilizer during the plant’s first year, as this can do more harm than good. These plants are vigorous. Avoid fertilizing invasive species, as they’ll get out of hand.
Once the plant is in its second year of growth, begin fertilizing once per year. Choose a balanced fertilizer with an NPK ratio of 10-10-10 or 12-12-12 and apply it to the base of your shrubs in the early spring.
Maintenance
These plants thrive without pruning but benefit from it for form and health.
Deutzias will continue to grow and bloom without pruning or other maintenance. And since the plants produce flowers on old growth, pruning can actually limit the number of flowers. With that said, pruning helps maintain a desirable form and is sometimes necessary to remove dead and diseased tissue. If you choose to prune your deutzia, do so immediately after flowering.
Mulching is one maintenance step that can help improve the health of deutzia plants. Applying a layer of wood chips, leaves, pine needles, or other organic materials to the soil around the shrub helps conserve soil moisture and keep deutzias healthy in times of drought.
Propagation
Propagate deutzia plants by taking 8-12 inch softwood cuttings in summer or early fall.
If you want to add some deutzia plants to your garden or share one of your plants with friends, you can propagate new plants from cuttings.
Start by taking a softwood cutting—a stem that’s a bit woody but still pliable—in the summer or early fall. Trim each cutting so it’s 8-12 inches long, remove all but the top leaves, and dip the bottom of the cutting in rooting hormone. Stick the bottom half of the cuttings in a container filled with well-draining potting mix and place them in a garage, covered porch, or other cool area. Another option is to pop the cuttings into soil covered by a cold frame.
No matter where you place the cuttings, keep the soil moist but not wet throughout the fall and winter. Aim to keep the temperature cool but above freezing. By the time spring rolls around, the cuttings should begin to form roots. You can transplant the cuttings when you see new above-ground growth emerge.
Popular Varieties
When you consider there are about 60 different deutzia species and hundreds of more hybrid varieties, it’s easy to see that you’ll have lots of options to choose from. Searching for a deutzia based on height, fall foliage color, and plant shape can help you find one that matches your desires. If you’re not sure exactly what you’re looking for, check out these popular deutzia varieties.
Deutzia ‘Nikko’
With a compact growth habit, ‘Nikko’ is an ideal ground cover for sunny areas.
Due to its short stature and spreading nature, ‘Nikko’ makes an excellent ground cover for sunny areas. Its green leaves protect the landscape from spring through fall, and clusters of white flowers attract bees and butterflies in the spring. Although the plants only grow two feet tall, they can spread up to five feet wide.
Deutzia ‘Chardonnay Pearls
This is a small to medium shrub known for its long-lasting clusters of bright white flowers.
A small to medium shrub, ‘Chardonnay Pearls’ works well for short hedges and stand-alone plantings. The plants produce clusters of bright white flowers for multiple months in the spring and also stand out due to their lime-green foliage.
Deutzia scabra ‘Codsall Pink’
A larger variety of deutzia, ‘Codsall Pink,’ is renowned for its double-petaled, stunning pink flowers.
Also known as fuzzy deutzia, this species gets its name from the small hairs that cover both sides of its leaves. ‘Codsall Pink’ is an award-winning cultivar sporting stunning pink flowers with double petals. It grows around eight feet tall, making it a larger deutzia variety.
Yuki Cherry Blossom® Deutzia
A compact dwarf deutzia, this variety displays charming pink spring flowers.
This dwarf deutzia remains under two feet tall, but don’t think its small size takes away from its beauty. The plants become covered with pink flowers in the spring, and the green foliage turns a lovely shade of maroon during the fall.
Common Problems
One of the benefits of deutzias is their ability to withstand disease, insect, and mammal pressure. Deer and rabbits leave the foliage alone, and smaller pests are relatively rare. With that said, keep an eye out for these problems.
Sap-Sucking Pests
These pests can damage deutzia leaves by piercing them, causing stipples.
Tiny sap-sucking pests like aphids, spider mites, and thrips sometimes appear to drink the sap of the deutzia leaves. These tiny critters use their sharp mouthparts to pierce the leaves, leading to a collection of small dots known as stipples. While a few pests won’t cause much damage, larger infestations can lead to discolored or dropped leaves. Leaf miners may also make their way through the inner membrane of leaves.
Natural predators like ladybugs, green lacewings, and hoverflies often keep these pest populations in check. Cultivating diverse plants and avoiding broad-spectrum insecticides encourages these good bugs to stick around. If you notice these tiny pests are still getting out of control, spray them with neem oil or insecticidal soap during the evening.
Leaf Spot
This can be managed by pruning and removing infected foliage to prevent disease spread.
Leaf spot is a generic term gardeners use to describe any number of pathogens that lead to discolored spots on leaves. Deutzia leaves sometimes show discolored spots caused by fungi or bacteria pathogens. These spots rarely cause major damage, but you can prune and dispose of infected leaves to help prevent the spread of disease.
Invasive Growth
Deutzia plants, if not controlled, can become invasive by self-seeding and displacing surrounding vegetation.
Sometimes, deutzia plants can be too hardy for their own good. If left to their own devices, deutzia varieties can self-seed and take over surrounding vegetation. Pulling new deutzia plants can prevent this, but planting native shrubs is the best way to prevent the spread of invasives.
Frequently Asked Questions
First, ensure your plant is old enough to flower—these plants won’t produce flowers during their first year of growth. If you have a mature plant that’s not flowering, a lack of light is the most likely cause. Too much nitrogen fertilizer can also inhibit flowering.
Deutzia plants are not evergreen. They drop their leaves each fall and regrow new leaves the following spring.
If you want to plant a flowering shrub native to the United States, consider azaleas, wild roses, and viburnum. All these shrubs will enrich your landscape with flowers, but they’re less likely than deutzia to become invasive.
Final Thoughts
Deutzia plants are an excellent option for gardeners looking for low-maintenance, flowering shrubs. If you decide you want to add one of these plants to your garden, remember to choose a variety that offers the height and form you’re looking for.
