Double Play Candy Corn Spirea Live Plant – 1 Gallon Potted Shrub – Outdoor

Overview

Introduce a kaleidoscope of color into your garden with the stunning Double Play Candy Corn Spirealive plant. This exceptional shrub, known botanically as Spiraea japonica ‘Double Play Candy Corn’, is a delightful addition to any outdoor space, offering a continuous display of vibrant hues throughout the growing season. From its brilliant scarlet red new foliage in spring, transitioning to bright yellow as it matures, and emerging with an orangey-red hue, this plant truly lives up to its ‘Candy Corn’ name. The visual feast is further enhanced by clusters of deep pinkish-purple flowers that bloom in early summer, attracting beneficial pollinators like butterflies and adding another layer of charm. This 1-gallon potted shrub arrives ready to thrive, providing immediate impact and long-lasting beauty to your landscape design.

The Double Play Candy Corn Spirea is celebrated not only for its striking appearance but also for its robust and adaptable nature. It’s an ideal choice for gardeners seeking a low-maintenance yet high-impact plant. Whether you’re looking to create a vibrant border, a foundational planting, or a standalone specimen, this spirea shrub delivers. Its compact size and multi-season interest make it a versatile option for various garden styles and sizes, ensuring your garden remains captivating from spring through fall.

Key Benefits

Planting the Double Play Candy Corn Spirea offers a multitude of advantages, transforming your garden into a dynamic and attractive haven. Its unique characteristics provide both aesthetic appeal and practical benefits for a thriving outdoor environment:

• Year-Round Visual Interest: Experience a spectrum of colors from spring to fall. The foliage shifts from vibrant scarlet red to bright yellow, with new growth emerging orangey-red, ensuring your garden is always alive with color.
• Exceptional Deer Resistance: Protect your precious garden and landscape from unwanted browsing. This deer resistant spirea is known for its resilience against deer, making it a reliable choice in areas where deer are a concern, ensuring your plants remain untouched.
• Low Maintenance & Easy Care: This shrub requires minimal attention, adapting well to a variety of soil types and light conditions. Its inherent hardiness simplifies gardening efforts, making it perfect for both novice and experienced gardeners.
• Versatile Landscape Use: Perfect for creating striking borders, enhancing foundational plantings, or serving as a captivating standalone specimen. Its manageable size and appealing form fit seamlessly into diverse garden designs.
• Attracts Pollinators: The beautiful deep pinkish-purple flowers that bloom in early summer are a magnet for beneficial insects like butterflies, contributing to a healthier and more vibrant garden ecosystem. This supports local biodiversity and adds life to your outdoor space.
• Compact & Manageable Size: Reaching a mature height of approximately 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 feet, this spirea maintains a neat and tidy habit, fitting well into smaller gardens or as part of a larger mixed planting.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

Ensuring the health and vibrancy of your Double Play Candy Corn Spirea is straightforward with proper care. This resilient shrub is quite forgiving, making it a joy to grow. For optimal growth and the most intense foliage colors, plant your spirea in a location that receives full sun to part shade. Full sun exposure (at least 6 hours of direct sunlight daily) typically results in the most brilliant and vivid color transformations, enhancing the overall visual impact of your colorful garden shrub. While it tolerates some shade, too much can diminish its vibrant hues and flowering.

When it comes to watering, the Double Play Candy Corn Spirea prefers consistent moisture, especially during its establishment period. Once established, it becomes moderately drought-tolerant but will benefit from regular watering during prolonged dry spells. Ensure the soil is well-draining to prevent root rot. This versatile shrub adapts well to various soil types, including clay, loam, and sandy soils, provided they offer good drainage. Amending heavy clay soils with organic matter can improve drainage and aeration, fostering a healthier root system. The shrub thrives in USDA hardiness zones 4-9, demonstrating its adaptability to a wide range of climates.

Fertilization is generally not heavily required for this spirea. A light application of a balanced, slow-release granular fertilizer in early spring, before new growth begins, can support vigorous development and flowering. Pruning should be done after the plant finishes flowering in early summer to maintain shape, encourage new growth, and enhance next season’s bloom. Remove any dead, damaged, or crossing branches to promote air circulation. This minimal spirea shrub care routine ensures your plant remains healthy and beautiful for years to come, providing a stunning focal point or an excellent choice for spirea for borders.

Size & Details

The Double Play Candy Corn Spirea is a compact and visually impactful shrub, making it an excellent choice for various garden applications. This particular offering is for a healthy live plant provided in a 1-gallon nursery pot, ensuring it has a robust root system ready for planting. Upon maturity, this spirea typically reaches an approximate height of 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 feet with a similar spread, creating a rounded, dense form. Its moderate growth rate allows it to establish quickly in your garden while remaining a manageable size, fitting seamlessly into most garden spaces without becoming overgrown. The vibrant foliage and deep pinkish-purple blooms provide continuous interest from spring through fall.

Its inherent hardiness allows it to thrive across USDA zones 4-9, making it suitable for a broad range of climates. This shrub is delivered with strong roots, ready to be planted directly into your garden. Expect to see its characteristic scarlet red spring foliage, which transitions to bright yellow, with new orangey-red growth, followed by charming early summer flowers. Its compact nature and dazzling colors make it an ideal choice for mass plantings, mixed borders, or as a vibrant accent in your landscape design.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: How big will the Double Play Candy Corn Spirea shrub get? A: This colorful garden shrub typically reaches a mature height of approximately 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 feet and a similar spread. Its compact size makes it suitable for various garden applications, including small spaces and container gardening.
• Q: What kind of sunlight does this spirea need? A: The Double Play Candy Corn Spirea thrives in full sun to part shade. For the most vibrant foliage colors and abundant blooms, it is recommended to plant it in a location that receives at least 6 hours of direct sunlight daily.
• Q: Is this plant truly deer resistant? A: Yes, this deer resistant spirea is well-known for its natural resistance to deer browsing. This makes it an excellent and reliable choice for gardens located in areas where deer are a common concern, helping to keep your landscape pristine.
• Q: When does the Double Play Candy Corn Spirea bloom? A: It blooms in early summer, producing beautiful clusters of deep pinkish-purple flowers. These blooms add an extra layer of visual charm and attract beneficial pollinators to your garden.
• Q: What type of soil is best for this spirea shrub? A: This versatile shrub adapts well to various soil types, including clay, loam, and sandy soils. The most important factor for healthy growth is ensuring the soil is well-draining to prevent waterlogging.
• Q: Is this spirea suitable for growing in containers? A: Yes, due to its compact and manageable size, the Double Play Candy Corn Spirea can be successfully grown in containers. Ensure the container has adequate drainage and use a high-quality potting mix.
• Q: How often should I fertilize my Double Play Candy Corn Spirea? A: A light application of a balanced, slow-release granular fertilizer in early spring is generally sufficient to support healthy growth and flowering. Avoid over-fertilizing, as this can lead to excessive foliage growth at the expense of blooms.
• Q: What is the best time to prune this spirea? A: The best time for spirea shrub care and pruning is after it finishes flowering in early summer. This encourages new growth and helps maintain the desired shape and size of the plant for optimal visual appeal.
• Q: Can the Double Play Candy Corn Spirea tolerate cold winters? A: This shrub is hardy in USDA zones 4-9, indicating good tolerance to cold temperatures within this range. In colder zones, ensure it has adequate mulch around its base for winter protection.
• Q: How does the foliage color change throughout the seasons? A: The foliage emerges scarlet red in spring, transitions to a bright yellow as it matures, and new growth often appears with an orangey-red hue. This dynamic color display provides continuous interest throughout the growing season.