Up until his year, this was my favorite flowering spring shrub–kerria japonica. It doesn’t really have a good common name–japanese kerria it is sometimes called.
Beneath it, you can see the new leaves of that funky groundcover perennial, petasites. It’s sort of obvious how it’s running along my garden, even in drought. Be forewarned.
The close-up of the flower shows that it’s nothing like forsythia although at a distance the shrubs do vaguely resemble one another in shape.
Best of all, kerria will grow in fairly good shade–or it does for me. And its stems are a lovely chartreuse green all winter. Overall, a great plant in 3 seasons–because its fall color is nothing to brag about. But really, I have other plants for that. In my climate, winter interest is more important sometimes.
