Walton's Plant Library

Other Names:  Heavenly Bamboo

Brand:  Southern Living

Description:

This dwarf evergreen shrub is a fabulous groundcover that maintains its red color throughout the year; excellent in mass plantings for textural effect; can use in containers or as edging

Ornamental Features

Flirt™ Nandina is primarily valued in the garden for its broadly spreading habit of growth. It has attractive green foliage with red stripes which emerges burgundy in spring. The small narrow compound leaves are highly ornamental and turn an outstanding red in the fall, which persists throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Flirt™ Nandina is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a ground-hugging habit of growth. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other landscape plants with less refined foliage.

This shrub will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Flirt™ Nandina is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Flirt™ Nandina will grow to be about 12 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 18 inches. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 30 years.

This shrub does best in a location that gets morning sunlight but is shaded from the hot afternoon sun, although it will also grow in full shade. Keep it away from hot, dry locations that receive direct afternoon sun or which get reflected sunlight, such as against the south side of a white wall. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It may require supplemental watering during periods of drought or extended heat. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Flirt™ Nandina makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its spreading habit of growth, it is ideally suited for use as a 'spiller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the edges where it can spill gracefully over the pot. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.