Geographical Origin: East of Asia
Adult sizes: 3 to 5m
Foliage: Deciduous
Type of soil: Moist, neutral to acid, cool and well-drained
Climate: Hardy to -20°C
Site: Partial shade to full sun
Properties and uses:
Like the Styrax officinalis, this Japanese Snowbell (Styrax japonicum 'Purple Dress') is an erect shrub covered with numerous small, hanging, bell-shaped, attractive to bees' flowers. Its elegant buds are pale pink. They open into fragrant, paler pink flowers as early as May. The bright, ovate foliage of the 'purple Dress' is dark green to start with, turning deep purplish-mahogany in the autumn. The Styrax japonicum 'Purple Dress' has an erect shape and a graphic growth in layers of spreading branches enhanced when grown on its own, as a specimen.