Photinia x fraseri ‘Red Robin’ (also called Christmas berry)
Photinia
x fraseri
‘Red Robin’
Evergreen shrub grown for colourful young growth, which is bright red, turning green as the leaves mature. Can be used in mixed planting or as an informal hedge. The young growth looks good in sunlight and also brightens a lightly shaded area. The spring flowers attract insects.
All year round.
Habit – upright, open. H: up to 6m. S: up to 4m.
Leaves – adult foliage is glossy and dark green. Young growth is red. Leaf is simple and lanceolate.
Stem – older growth brown and woody, young growth reddish-brown. Stems are round and smooth.
Flowers - clusters of small, white flowers in mid and late spring, sometimes followed by spherical red fruit.
Sun or semi-shade.
Fertile, well-drained neutral to acid.
Frost hardy, but grow against a south or west facing wall to give it some protection as the young growth can sometimes be caught by late frosts. The specimen we have here grows against a west facing wall and is doing well. If we get this forecast hard winter, it'll be interesting to see how it gets on. I'll update in spring.
Forgot to update the page, didn't I? The winter of 2005 was a bit colder than the year before and we had some snow in the second half of February. Anyway, the Photinia was just fine, although it did suffer a little from some leaf spot during a particularly wet period. Now that it is fully established it seems quite contented.
Prune in spring, cutting back stems by about 15cm, to encourage new red growth and to keep shrub bushy. Mulch with garden compost in spring.
Semi-ripe cuttings in summer.
Garden Plant Information list of plant care info by botanical name