Caryopteris clandonensis Pavilion Pink - Bluebeard

Caryopteris x clandonensis Pavilion Pink ® is a blue spirea with pink flowers that combines several qualities: it is a hardy selection, with a nice compact and bushy habit, which produces more dense and abundant flower spikes than usual pink varieties. This small shrub or subshrub is very floriferous from late summer to early autumn. It also has beautiful foliage, which exudes a scent of turpentine when crushed. Caryopteris is an ornamental plant that is also beneficial for pollinators and requires little water when planted in the ground. It can be planted in a sunny bed, a rock garden, or even in a pot on the balcony. 

Caryopteris x clandonensis Pavilion Pink is part of the Pavilion™ series developed by Danziger. This series comes in 3 flower colours and is characterized by abundant flowers produced on shorter internodes, giving the impression that the plant is covered with flowers above lush green foliage. Caryopteris  x clandonensis is a hybrid resulting from the cross-breeding of Caryopteris incana, an Asian shrub known as 'Bluebeard', and Caryopteris mongolica, a more hardy shrub native to colder regions of Mongolia and northern China. All these small shrubs belong to the Verbenaceae family.

The Pavilion Pink variety forms a dense bush that can reach a height and width of 45cm (17.7in), depending on growing conditions. It blooms from August to October, with the flowering period starting and ending earlier or later depending on the climate. Its inflorescences appear on the upper half of the current year's branches. They are composed of countless small pink buds grouped in very dense whorls. The buds open into small flowers with a delicate pink colour and prominent stamens. This flowering is particularly attractive to bees and nectar-feeding insects, and the shrub is often visited by many colourful butterflies. The deciduous foliage consists of thin, triangular, aromatic leaves with irregularly dentate edges, arranged in an opposite fashion on straight stems. They have a fairly dark green colour that may appear more or less greyish depending on soil dryness and heat. When crushed, they release a powerful aroma with resinous notes. 

Caryopteris Pavilion Pink can be used in a border, alongside other compact and generous shrubs and bushy perennials such as shrubby Potentillas, catmints, lavenders, dwarf buddleias, shrubby salvias... A vibrant scene can be created in late summer by combining Caryopteris with evening primroses, California fuchsia, Turbinellus aster or other early-flowering asters. A group of 3 shrubs surrounding a pink or mauve repeat-flowering rose is a splendid sight in September: their different styles and colors of flowering are perfectly complementary.