Paperbush
Edgeworthia chrysantha
Flowers in the depths of winter, which is exactly why it needs shelter — a hard cold snap kills back the branches carrying them.
- Type
- Shrub · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Foliage color
- Green
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Sunlight
- Partial shade, out of the reach of cold winds.
- Watering
- Keep it moist, and water through dry spells.
- Feeding
- A light balanced fertilizer in spring.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- February
- Pruning
- A light prune after flowering; steer clear of hard cuts.
- Jan–Feb Bud Break
- Feb–Apr Flowering
- Apr–Nov Growing
- Nov–Dec Leaf Fall
- Jan–Jan Leaf Fall
- Plant spacing
- 4 ft 11 in
- In-row spacing
- 4 ft 11 in
- Between rows
- 6 ft 2 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
- Root system
- Woody and fibrous
- Working depth
- 12–24 in
- Can reach
- 3 ft down where the soil allows
- Spread
- 7.5–10 ft across, about 1.5–2× the width of the plant
- Shallowest pot
- 20 in of soil
A shallow woody framework with the fine feeding roots in the leaf litter above it. Those feeders are mostly under the outer half of the canopy rather than against the stem, which is where water and feed should go.
The habit is Paperbush’s own; the figures are what that habit usually comes to at this size, not a measurement of this species. Roots follow the soil either way: a compacted pan, a high water table or heavy clay stops them well short of any of it, and deep open ground lets them go further.
- Root & crown rot Root rot where the soil stays waterlogged
- Branch dieback after a hard cold snap
- Leaf scorch in hot, dry conditions
Hellebores, Snowdrops, Ferns, Hostas
Green-leaved shrubs, like this one.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com