Spiraea japonica Double Play Big Bang Tracy

Spiraea japonica 'Double Play Big Bang Tracy' is a beautiful improvement on the variety Goldflame. This recent Japanese spiraea presents as a large multicoloured cushion, with changing foliage and very beautiful dark pink flowering. Its young shoots, tinted with orange-red when they open, turn yellow in spring, become slightly greener in summer under remarkable pink corymbs, and then turn orange-yellow in autumn. Undemanding, this adorable little bush will find a place in all gardens. Its compact and rounded habit makes it suitable for borders or low flower beds, as well as for cultivation in containers.

The 'Double Play Big Bang Tracy' Japanese Spirea belongs to the Rosaceae family. It is a cultivar derived from Spiraea japonica, a species with pink flowers native to China and Japan. The growth of this plant is moderately fast and its adult size will reach an average of 75 cm (30in) in all directions. Forming a very dense small bush with a rounded and compact habit, this variety displays particularly colourful foliage in changing hues, consisting of small oblong and dentate leaves. The flowers appear in June-July, grouped in terminal corymbs of remarkable size (12 cm (5in)) considering the scale of the plant - perhaps the widest observed in this type of spiraea. They are generally dark pink, composed of a multitude of small pink flowers with an almost red centre. The prolonged flowering, often recurring in September, attracts numerous butterflies and bees.

Appearing like a large multicoloured cushion, the 'Double Play Big Bang Tracy' Spiraea is a first-rate variety for landscaping. It will adapt to all climates and soils, but it dislikes scorching or overly arid situations. This plant works wonders as a low hedge or to create the framework for a perennial flower bed, but also when planted in large borders. Combine Japanese Spirea with white, pink, or mauve roses, for example, as well as with small shrubby potentillas. It will be perfect as ground cover in shrub beds along pathways, or even in a rock garden. You can place it in the front row of a rustic hedge, accompanied by other dwarf spireas (Spiraea betulifolia), dwarf red Osier (Salix purpurea nana), 'Miss Kim' dwarf Manchurian Lilac, or dwarf Weigela (Nana purpurea). It will grow very well in pots or containers on terraces and balconies, in not too arid conditions.