Put Down Your Purple Pixie Loropetalum, Replace Them Now!
Yes, yes. We know that the winter was hard on just about everybody. It was even harder on some peoples plants. We saw a pretty impressive cold spell, and what was more impressive about it was the amount of destruction that occured. Plants that we were used to growing for decades were dead as doornails before we knew it. Never could we have planned on it – but what we can do is plan ahead and start planting cold hardy-ier plants for the next time. You never know what next winter is going to be.
You can start by replacing any Purple Pixie Chinese Fringe that you might have lost with the new ‘Crimson Fire’ Loropetalum. This one will tolerate all the things that your old pixies will – including stay small – but it has a better cold hardiness. These little gem can tolerate temperatures down to 0 degrees (which is more than most of us humans can stand!).
Plant them in full sun to partial shade for best foliage color and be amazed and the bright pink lacy flowers that erupt from the dark burgundy foliage in the spring. It will stay evergreen in heat, it will stay evergreen in cold, it will NOT stay evergreen if you forget to water it.
