Culture

• Plant spirea in full sun. While tolerant of poor soil and drought, it will look best if planted in well-drained soil amended with compost. Water spirea regularly to establish a deep root system. Spirea can become dense and twiggy, so prune some mature stems off at ground level and clear out excess twiggy growth each year after the plant blooms. You can shear mounding spireas in late winter before growth begins to remove spent flower heads.
  
  

Arching Spirea

• Bridal wreath spirea (S. prunifolia) has long, arching branches lined with clusters of pure white blooms in early spring. It is a large, open shrub that reaches 8 feet in height and width, with small green leaves that turn yellow, orange and purple in the fall. S. vanhouttei, the granddaddy of arching spireas, flowers in April or May with large bloom clusters. It can grow 10 feet high and 20 feet wide. S. cineria "Grefsheim" is a smaller cultivar that grows 5-by-5 feet and blooms profusely in mid-spring.
  
  

Mounding Spirea

• The cultivar Anthony Waterer (S. bumala) is the most common of the species, with pink blooms atop maroon-tipped foliage. It grows to 3 feet. Goldflame, a striking plant with yellow leaves variegated with deep pink, green and red, bears deep pink flowers in early summer. It grows more wide than tall, about 4 feet by 6 feet. Limemound has yellow-green foliage on a compact 3-foot shrub; its fall color is orange-red. A new spirea cultivar, Snow Storm (S. media), bred in the Netherlands, grows in a neat, rounded shape, 4 feet tall and wide. It bears large, flat clusters of white blooms against blue-green foliage that turns bright red-orange in the fall.
  
  

Dwarf Spirea

• S. japonica varieties grow into neat, upright, rounded shrubs. Their leaves are oval with toothed edges, and they bear flat clusters of pink blooms. Goldmound has reddish-yellow new foliage that changes to lime green. It grows into a 3-foot mound. Magic Carpet's leaves emerge red and take on yellow and bronze tones. It grows to 18 inches in height. Flaming Mound's foliage is deep red, maturing to gold.