{"product_id":"loropetalum-chinense-china-pink","title":"Loropetalum chinense China Pink","description":"\u003cp\u003eBright lolly pink fringe flowers are the reason to plant China Pink, not the leaf. The darker selections are bought for plum and burgundy foliage; this one is grown for clusters of narrow, twisted petals that smother the bush from late winter through spring and keep turning up in smaller flushes during the warmer months. The leaf is a purplish red to bronze, lighter than the deep plum of the darkest forms, and the pink flowers stand out against it rather than sinking into it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe habit is a dense, rounded shrub of medium size, well furnished to the ground, with small oval leaves along fine layered branches. That density makes it useful beyond a single feature plant: it clips into a low to medium flowering hedge, holds a shape as a standard, and suits a wide border, a bank or a large pot beside an entry or a pool.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eSun for flower, and no wet feet\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFlowering follows the sun. A plant with sun for most of the day is covered from late winter, while one on the shady side of a fence flowers thinly and its leaf turns greener. Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide gardens all suit it if the ground is acid: test the pH before planting near a new slab or into builder's fill, dig compost through the bed, use an acid mulch and give it a spring feed. It takes light frost and copes with dry spells once its roots are down, though a root ball that dries right out in a hot spell costs you the next round of flowers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe other way to lose it is wet feet. In clay that stays soggy through winter the roots rot and the plant thins from the inside out, a decline that often goes unnoticed until half the shrub is bare. On heavy ground, mound the planting area or build a raised bed. For a hedge, set plants 700 to 900 millimetres apart, closer if you want the row to knit quickly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003ePruning time decides the flower\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe common mistake with China Pink is clipping at the wrong time of year. Next season's flowers form on the wood it grows through summer and autumn, so a hedge trimmed neat in late autumn or winter loses most of its spring display, and the plant gets the blame. Do the main trim straight after the spring flush finishes, give it a light tip in summer if it needs one, and leave it alone from autumn on. As an informal hedge one cut a year is enough; a formal sheared face is possible, but expect fewer flowers on the clipped surface. Pests are few; aphids on soft spring growth are the usual one.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eChina Pink beside the darker forms\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/products\/loropetalum-chinense-plum-gorgeous\"\u003eLoropetalum chinense Plum Gorgeous\u003c\/a\u003e is the one to pick when leaf colour matters more than flower: a more upright shrub held in deep plum, with magenta blooms. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/loropetalum-chinense-purple-pixie\"\u003eLoropetalum chinense Purple Pixie\u003c\/a\u003e sits at the other end, a low weeping form for groundcover and wall tops. China Pink falls between the two, a rounded medium shrub where the pink is the feature and the leaf plays support. Other flowering screens are gathered among the \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/hedges\"\u003eHedging Plants\u003c\/a\u003e, and if you are working out numbers for a run, read \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/how-many-plants-for-a-hedge\"\u003ehow many plants do I need for a hedge\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is supplied in one size, 300mm, at $109.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/hedging-plants-for-australian-conditions\"\u003ehedging plants for Australian conditions\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"300mm","offer_id":67671219044721,"sku":null,"price":109.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/loropetalum-chinense-china-pink.jpg?v=1791519421","url":"https:\/\/plantdrop.com.au\/products\/loropetalum-chinense-china-pink","provider":"Plant Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}