Kerria japonica

There are certain plants that it is all too easy to take for granted, and Kerria japonica is one of them. With its scruffy flowers of rather too strong a yellow, it doesn’t live up to the desired oriental elegance promised by its graceful habit.

Kerria japonica has bright yellow pompon flowers

It’s a suckering shrub, but, with its thin, gently arching stems, is never invasive – and it is remarkably tolerant of neglect. I mention it now, not just because it is flowering in my own garden but because I have spotted in a neighbour’s garden the slightly more desirable single form. And on a walk through the village yesterday evening I came across the even nicer variegated one – a very desirable plant. I have made a mental note to beg some cuttings in July.

Tags: Kerria japonica, pompon flowers, single form, spring-flowering shrubs, suckering shrubs, taking cuttings, variegated form, yellow flowers, yellow-flowered shrubs