Rainbow Leucothoe

Rainbow Leucothoe is a cultivar of Leucothoe fontanesiana, with lancelike leaves splashed in white and red during the summer months, turning a striking burgundy red in fall and winter. Leucothoe’s delicate appearance and graceful arching habit belies its hardiness; pest free, disease-resistant, and drought-tolerant, this evergreen shrub is a garden workhorse. I’ve dug them up and moved them around, propagated them, and bought more. The specimen in this photo was part of a 2017 mass planting effort behind our garage. I later decided that my design was too wild and disorganized, so to moved it to an open spot next to our coral bark maple. The color and leaf shape complements the maple’s warm palette quite nicely.