Plant: Blue Cascade - Distylium
Distylium · Distylium racemosum 'Blue Cascade'
Size: 3 gal
Light
Bloom
Mature size
More about this plant
Blue Cascade is an evergreen distylium with a compact, spreading habit reaching about 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Bronze reddish spring growth matures to dark blue green, leathery, glossy foliage that holds through winter. Small petalless flowers with red calyces and purple stamens open in February and March. It grows from light shade to full sun in clay, loam or sandy soil across a wide pH range, tolerates heat, drought and wet soils, and is highly resistant to deer and rabbits with no significant pest or disease damage. Use it as a low hedge, foundation planting or massed groundcover.
- Full Sun
- Grows to 4 ft tall and 4 ft wide
- Blooms in winter, spring
- Hardy in USDA zones 7-9
- Evergreen foliage
Plant description
Blue Cascade is an evergreen distylium with a compact, spreading habit reaching about 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Bronze reddish spring growth matures to dark blue green, leathery, glossy foliage that holds through winter. Small petalless flowers with red calyces and purple stamens open in February and March. It grows from light shade to full sun in clay, loam or sandy soil across a wide pH range, tolerates heat, drought and wet soils, and is highly resistant to deer and rabbits with no significant pest or disease damage. Use it as a low hedge, foundation planting or massed groundcover.
- Flowers
- Small petalless flowers with red calyces and purple stamens borne in short racemes in February and March.
- Foliage
- Leathery, glossy simple leaves 1 to 3 inches long, elliptical to obovate with entire margins, held alternately along rigid branches.
- Fruit
- A two beaked woody capsule under an inch long, covered in brown star shaped hairs.
- Pruning
- Pruning is minimal; a light tip pruning in June spurs new growth.
- Native range
- China and Japan
