Spirea Double Play Big Bang

by Doug
(In his garden)

Spirea is one of the more heavily planted of flowering shrubs because of its hardiness, heavy flowering and leaf coloration. In short, this plant has it all when it comes to talking about shrubs. Here are the details you need to know about this plant.

Growing Details

Sunlight: sun to part shade

Hardiness: USDA 3-8

Height: 2-3 ft

Width: 2-3 ft.

Flowering: red-pink with darker eye but glowing orange spring foliage. These are technically called flat-topped corymbs (each bloom is composed of a ton of smaller flowers and the shape is flat) but what you really want to know is that they flower on new growth in early to mid-summer. And sometimes, you'll even get a secondary, sporadic growth that will show up.

Culture: This is an easy shrub that survives on almost all soils except heavy clay and very wet soils. So plant it wherever you have enough sunlight. Pruning first thing in the spring to create the shape you want is the norm here and the plant will still flower that year as it blooms on new wood.

Landscaping: With the height and leaf coloration of this shrub, you can get several seasons of interest from it. The only consideration is that whatever you plant in front of it for spring has to be bright enough to handle the gold coloration and not take away from either the shrub or the flower (blue and voilet combinations would be knockouts for both)

Variety: Spirea Double Play Big Bang is the marketing name; another name is Spirea 'Tracy'

Variety: Double Play Big Bang

Available: from Proven Winners retailers and mailorder.

US readers can obtain the plant here.

Canadian readers can obtain the plant here.

Doug's Notes

Planted: June 2010. Well rooted in 5-inch pot and cutting healthy and in good shape. Shipped from GardenImport

May 2011 - good survival rate in one - the other has survived but was chewed to the ground by rabbits. :(

Good spring color with red-tipped leaves. Good mounded habit without any pruning.