Red Tip Photinia

Red tip photinia (Photinia x fraseri), often sold as 'Red Robin', is a vigorous evergreen hybrid grown above all for the vivid red color of its emerging leaves, which gradually deepen to glossy dark green.

Fast growing and dense, it is widely used for hedges, screens and windbreaks, where regular trimming stimulates flushes of bright red new growth throughout the season. Small white flowers appear in spring, though they have an unpleasant scent and are often clipped off in hedges.

The plant is easy and adaptable but is prone to a leaf-spot fungal disease, especially in damp climates and crowded plantings.

• New growth: striking bright red young leaves, the signature feature, maturing to glossy dark green
• Leaves: alternate, leathery, oval with finely toothed margins
• Flowers: flat clusters of small white flowers in spring, with an unpleasant odor
• Habit: dense, upright evergreen shrub, commonly 8 to 15 ft if unpruned
• Fruit: small red berries, sparse on regularly clipped hedges

Grows in full sun to part shade; reddest new growth comes with more sun and regular trimming.

• Water: moderate; water regularly while establishing, then fairly tolerant
• Soil: well-drained, fertile; dislikes waterlogged ground
• Temperature: USDA zones 7 to 9
• Feeding: feed in spring to support vigorous, colorful new growth
• Pruning: trim several times a year to encourage repeat flushes of red foliage; this is its main maintenance
• Disease: susceptible to Entomosporium leaf spot; improve airflow, avoid overhead watering and clear fallen leaves
• Propagation: semi-hardwood cuttings

Photinia x fraseri is a hybrid (a cross of P. glabra and P. serratifolia) that originated in cultivation; its parent species are native to East Asia.

It is not a wild plant but is enormously popular in gardens across temperate and warm-temperate regions worldwide, particularly as a hedging shrub in Europe and North America.