Deciduous Flowering Shrubs - Part 4
this particular plant, which I grew from a cutting that lost its label, is in the wrong place since I thought it was my pink lace cap when it first flowered as a tiny shrublet in its pot. It will have to be moved very soon before it gets too large. The mother plant easily reaches about six feet (2 m) tall.
Because this shrub exhibits a range of flower color; starting out with white which turns pink (or sometimes blue as you can see on the left) and ages to darker tones and because "preciosa" is so close in spelling to "preziosa", I tried to find out if they were, in fact, the same plant.
Correspondence with Dave Bowman of Crownsville Nursery, who grows both clones, leads me to believe that this might be the case. He says that he can tell no difference between the two clones when they are grown in the shade.
I have seen H. 'Preziosa' listed as H. macrophylla var. serrata 'Preziosa' and as serrata x macrophylla and simply as 'Preziosa'.
Under any name, grown in the sun, it shows deeper red tones than my plants and the late summer color is definitely deeper than mine develop, but both of mine are in considerable shade.
I've seen hardiness ratings from USDA zone 6 to zone 5 and sizes given ranging from three to four feet (0.91 - 1.21m) to four to five feet (1.21 - 1.52 m). It is also sometimes described as having dark purplish stems with leaves darkening at the edges with red veins. My 'Pink Beauty' does have the dark leaf edges, but I need to go squint at the stems again to see if they have any purple tones. 'Preziosa' is an upright grower (as is my 'Pink Beauty') and originates in Japan and Korea. Either one of these shrubs provides a long season of changing color and interest.
There are so many forms and cultivars in the mophead category that simply listing them would soon cause your eyes to glaze over. I do grow one other in a pot, since I am not certain of its hardiness; it was a Mother's Day gift and I am always suspicious of the florist shrubs, since most are not hardy varieties. It, too, is un-named. There are, however, a couple
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