Shoe Button (Bridal Wreath)Spirea. One of my favorite old shrubs because it can be in full flower and an 18°F night will not faze its flowers. Here, from mid February to mid March, its stems will be lined with half inch, extremely double white flowers. Branches are arching and graceful on plants that can reach 8' in height. If it never flowered, it would be worth planting for its fall color, a brilliant tangerine-orange covering its stems. I don't see it as straggly as Dirr infers in his description if one prunes out one third its old canes all the way to the ground, every year just after flowering to induce a fuller and more graceful plant. Please don't whack them back half way up. St. Michael refers to it as one of the "Over the hill gang," but we still sell it on a regular basis. Come on Mike, loosen up.
Zones 5-8
