How to Grow and Care for Birchleaf Spirea Shrubs

How to Grow and Care for Birchleaf Spirea Shrubs

You gotta love how birchleaf spirea, Spiraea betulifolia, grows as a perennial in the USDA Hardiness Zones that may experience -40°F temperatures in the winter.

And the way that it produces copious clusters of blooms all spring, attractive green or yellow leaves in summer, and a kaleidoscope of colorful foliage in autumn is also sure to be admired.

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Speaking of positive reactions, bees love birchleaf spirea’s nectar-rich blooms, and you may spy hummingbirds sipping from the flowers too if you decide to grow this beneficial ornamental shrub in a border, bed, or container.

I present this growing guide to help you decide if this variety of spirea is a good fit for your landscape design and the limitations of your garden or the area where you grow ornamental plants.

With affection and good humor, I’ll cover these topics:

This mounding shrub is one of the 100 unique species within the Spiraea genus.

Listen up, gardeners in northern climates: This exceptionally hardy ornamental shrub offers three-season interest in USDA Hardiness Zones 3 to 9, depending on the cultivar.

Considered a dwarf spirea, it grows from about two to four feet tall, depending on the variety, and spreads about that wide with a mounding habit.

Clusters of white or pink flowers bloom throughout the spring, with beautiful leaves exhibited throughout the summer.

While other spirea species have oval-shaped leaves, S. betulifolia produces two-inch round or egg-shaped leaves that resemble birch foliage, hence the name.

These leaves are typically deep green, lime green, or