Chinese fringe flower is an outstanding shrub that adds beauty to the landscape year-round. The lovely flowers add seasonal interest as well.

This is a very appealing plant with many handsome features. First, there is the very neat looking growth habit that gardeners will appreciate. It is a somewhat rounded and very neat looking shrub.

The branches can be drooping or arching, and are arranged in layers. Rather fast growing, fringe flower can reach six feet in height within three to four years from planting time.

Mature plants will typically be six to ten feet in height with a matching spread. In some cases, this has grown to be eight to fifteen feet tall under good growing conditions. The oldest branches have exfoliating, dark brown bark that peels in large strips.

The slender stems are very downy. The evergreen foliage is particularly lovely. The leaves emerge along the lengths of the stems in a single plane, which is one of the most intriguing features of the plant.

The upper surface of the shiny leaves is rough. The rounded foliage is somewhat tapered to the tip with an oblique base. The foliage is one to 2 ½ inches long and ¾ to 1 ¼ inch across.

The flowers are usually cream to white although there are varieties with other flower colors, particularly pinks and reds. It normally blooms from late March into April at the ends of the branches. However, the plant can also bear a small number of blooms periodically in the fall.

These flowers are somewhat reminiscent of witch hazel blooms. There are four strap-like, linear petals per bloom. These are around ¾ inch long.
The flowers form very small clusters containing three to six blossoms.

The seed pod is a nut-like, woody capsule.

Fringe flower plants are readily available at local nurseries and garden centers in the South. In recent years, a large number of varieties have been released. These often have colorful foliage with purple and burgundy being two common colors.

In general, many of the varieties have blossoms in varying shades of pink. The Southern Living brand of plants has a number of these newer varieties.

For those with small gardens, there are even dwarf varieties. Suzanne fringe flower is an example. This is only about three to four feet in height, about half the size of the species plant.

Gardeners can choose from a number of fringe flower varieties, including the following. Fire Pink fringe flower features new leaves that are ruby red, later maturing to purplish-red. The blossoms are dark pink.

Purple Day Dream fringe flower is part of the Southern Living collection of plants. This plant is dwarf.

Pipa’s Red fringe flower features deep pink blooms. The lovely leaves are very deep purplish-red, which doesn’t fade or change.