Matcha Ball Ash Leaf Spirea Planted In Island Bed - May 2025

In the Fall of 2023, I planted a pair of Matcha Ball Ash Leaf Spirea shrubs - one in the front yard and one in the backyard.  The one in front didn't come back this year, but the one in back leaf'd out and is now on its second full growing season and doing well.  

I was drawn to these during my Japanese Maple phase and when I saw another one at the Big Box nursery recently, I decided to bring it home to add a new, different color and texture to the front yard Island bed.

These are dwarf-like shrubs that has lace-leaf or fern-like foliage.  Here's what First Editions says about the Matcha Ball shrub:

Forming a perfect round ball fern-like leaves cover Matcha Ball® in a fresh shade of green, much like Matcha tea. When the leaves first emerge in very early spring, the leaves and petioles have hints of red and orange-peach that ultimately mature to green in the summer and yellow in the fall.

The photo at the top shows off those orange-peach color.  Here, below, is the plant tag:

I planted it in the Island bed, behind the Korean Maple and Spring Grove Ginkgo tree and in front of the Skylands Spruce evergreen.  

Here, below, is how they look together - a different color and texture from each plant in this bed:

I could find more spots for more of these, but I'll wait to see if they show up in the 50% off sales later this Summer.