Loropetalum chinense 'Ever Red' syn. Loropetalum chinense 'Chang Nian Hong'

@pelly @ublaszko this is my abomination 🙈 #loropetalum #chinese-fringe-flower #loropetalum-ever-red

Hmm, I see what you mean, it really doesn’t look too healthy. I really hope it perks up for you 🤔👍

By the looks of it you have an aphid problem. 😕 You're not watering it with tap water, are you? I reckon it's either greenflies or whiteflies because some of the newer leaves look disfigured. Don't worry, mine look like that last winter but it bounced back in the spring. You could pop in the greenhouse in the meantime if you still have space.

@pelly thanks Jane, me too 🤞🏻 it’s grown in size so something is working 😂 just looks worse for wear 🙈

@ublaszko I’ve checked for bugs and sprayed it but haven’t noticed anything. But it does look disfigured in places. I’ve only used rainwater to water it. I hope it bounces back like yours. Remember how amazing you had it looking last year 🤩

But I don't think I posted how it looked at the end of the winter. It lost a lot of the foliage during one of last year's winterstorms. 🙈 They grow the foliage back pretty fast once the weather improves so if it's weather related it should bounce back before summer ☺

Looking a lot better than mine. Mind you it died a few months back! 😂

We’ll have to compare notes when mine comes 😍👍

@ublaszko they really do not like the wind do they 😂 I’m hopeful since there appears to be new growth. Just this one hasn’t been good to me since I got it 😜 roll on summer!

@jeatacake 🤣😂🤣 I bet it only just about looks better! 🤣😂🤣

@pelly I look forward to it 😁

Perhaps keep an eye on it and keep checking for aphids. Would be such a shame to loose it. I'm sure it will bounce back in summer.

@ublaszko in all its small glory 😅

Looks fab! Very similar shape to my loropetalum before Pudgy broke half of it. I love the near black foliage 😍 Hoping mine will colour up now that I repotted it.

@ublaszko it’s made such a great recovery considering how slow it grows, thank you ☺️ I’ll always love that she chased a bug through your plant 😆

It certainly has! 😄👍 Seems these are the perils of having a kitten in the garden. You're bound to loose some plants before it grows out of the crazy squirrel stage 😅😅

Looking good 😍 & a lot better than mine, which ain't hard as I can't find it! 😀

@ublaszko crazy squirrel stage 😂 one of my neighbours has a cat that’s still in that stage. Forever jumping off my deck railing and right onto my hydrangea 🤬

@jeatacake oh god 🤣 the borders have swallowed it up!

😁😁 Awww 😻 Very tiring stage! It used to take an hour of making Pudgy chase a string morning and evening to let some of that energy out. She still managed to pull the curtains down WITH the railing 😂😂

@ublaszko she doesn’t do anything by halves 🤣🤣🤣

😂😂

Yep! I think so. Hoping it'll reappear once everything has died down in late autumn 🤞

@jeatacake from my limited experience it won’t be in any danger of a growth spurt 🤣 slowest growing thing ever!

@ublaszko 😁

👍👍💕💕💕

@ublaszko would have been better if I’d taken a photo of the whole thing 🙈 but you get the gist 😛

Looks like there's new foliage coming too. Mine is a bit faded so I might need to repot it.

@ublaszko there’s a lot of new growth, just very slow at actually growing it out 😅 has yours earned an pot upgrade?

@kez001uk is this the Chinese ‘Witch Hazel’? It looks really like a plant I have. You’re definitely right about slow growing. Is it winter hardy as I’ve just recently got mine?

@pixierose it is 😁 as for hardy, it is but I had trouble with mine since I had it in the wrong place. Since @ublaszko advised it needs a sheltered spot it’s done great. But it seems to take an age to get any bigger 😂

It's like watching kettle boil 😂😂 So slow!

It's borderline hardy but if you live in the south it might do ok outside in winter. I've had mine outside 2 winters in a row and have had mixed results. The winter is the biggest culprit so it needs to be in a sheltered spot, maybe against the house. Also if the winter is mild like the last one the foliage will continue to grow but frost or snow will kill it off. I'm going to be fleecing mine in the coming winter. @pixierose

@ublaszko I just took a photo of the whole plant and compared it with the first photo I took - it looks smaller 🤣 my loropetalum is Benjamin Button-ing 🙈

It's super slow growing but it's only supposed to get to 1.5m after 10 years. 😅 @kez001uk @pixierose

@ublaszko oh good god, that’s ridiculous 😩

First flower 😁 @Sussanah

Omg dark indeed. #red 👌🏻💋

Love this ❤️❤️

Mine's turning dark again so hopefully not much longer until the flowers 😍😍

Lovely & such dark leaves. I think the one I got has died 😖

Mines not looking to good, but then it never has really. Such a shame, their great if their right .

@gjones thank you 😁 Trying to pick interesting foliage plants now 😉

@Sussanah quite different to the one you have isn’t it 😊

@pelly thank you Jane ☺️

@ublaszko was surprised to see a flower out of nowhere! Looking forward to seeing yours 🙂

@jeatacake it’s a gorgeous one, thought it’s nice for winter colour 😋 oh no, what happened to it???

@davewrightjoinerygooglemail.co that’s no good 😟 mine is small still but seems healthy at the moment. Don’t have anything this colour so brings something new 😛

Can’t wait to see this in all its glory 😁

I have a pink one 😀 I love it, it keeps flowering a little bit even now although it was full of flowers in February. at the moment it's having a growth spurt and putting on lots of new leaves. 😆

@ublaszko oooh I’ll take a look at yours 😛 saw it online and thought it’d make nice winter colour. The flowers look so cute though ☺️

It looked great in the winter although I suspect it will live under horticultural fleece a lot as I'm not planning to bring it in indoors. Unfortunately, the cat broke half of mine off when she chasing a bee so it's taken a while to bounce back. Looks like yours is putting on a lot of new leaves 👍👍

@ublaszko 🤣🤣🤣 chasing a bee 🤣🤣🤣 made me laugh at the thought! 😂 I didn’t even know they had to be protected over winter. I need to pay more attention to details 😬

She's always chasing bees and knocking over my pots 😂 Yes, loropetalum is quite tender and needs winter protection.

@ublaszko she sounds like she’s very entertaining! 😅 I’ll make a note of that so I remember to take it in greenhouse, thanks urszula ☺️

You're very welcome 😊 Yes, she make me laugh out loud every day. This morning she managed to break her kitty jail and waited to be fed in the middle of the living room 😂 She's supposed to be in the kitchen with the door closed and a doorstop behind it because she scratches the carpet to get into the bedroom otherwise. 😁

@ublaszko I love the sound of her! So spirited and tonnes of personality 😛

She certainly doesn't lack in personality 😁😅 @kez001uk