Fothergilla x intermedia 'Blue Shadow'

Fothergilla x intermedia 'Blue Shadow' as a deciduous shrub with blue leaves and white bottlebrush like flowers in spring.  Fothergilla x intermedia 'Blue Shadow' has a long history and I was fortunate enough to have been there with it from almost the beginning!  In the early 1990's I was in Oregon visiting my good nursery friend Gary Handy and he was extremely excited to show me a mutation he had just found a few days earlier on a Fothegilla 'Mt. Airy'.  The plant only had 2 blue leaves on it, but I first words to Gary is you will be able to retire on this one!  It took Gary a few years to build up some stock on the plant and it was also put into tissue culture.  I bought 1000 TC liners and potted them and they were all totally green!  Other nurseries had the same problem.  We didn't know what to think about this issue, but sadly it killed its marketability and Gary wasn't able to retire.  I held my plants for nearly 5 years and then a few started to turn blue - very weird.  I planted these into the garden and they were all totally blue like the original mutation.  A few more years pass, and then the horrible news was discovered that the root suckers from this plant (Fothergilla make a slowly suckering shrub) were all green and stayed green.  We all felt sick to our stomachs when we found this out.  Now comes the exciting end to this roller coaster ride - I started grafting Fothergilla 'Blue Shadow' onto Parrotia persica understock (Parrotia make a single stem, non suckering tree) and grafted high enough that the Fothergilla 'Blue Shadow' part of the plant can't reach the ground - without being in the ground, no root suckers, no root suckers means a completely blue plant!  Problem solved!  Fothergilla 'Blue Shadow' is one of the bluest foliage plants you can plant in  your garden - its as blue as a good blue spruce and has a much wider range of where it will grow than a blue spruce.  Fall color on Fothergilla 'Blue Shadow' is a brilliant mix of yellow, orange and red and in the spring, the plant is covered with extremely fragrant, white, bottle brush like flowers then followed by stunning blue leaves until fall colors arrive.  We have very limited numbers this year but hope to graft a lot this coming season.  Like all Fothergilla 'Blue Shadow' prefers light shade to sun and average garden soil that isn't too dry. One of the best shrubs you can possible plant in your garden!

• HARDINESS:  zones 4-9
• EXPOSURES:  part shade, sun
• SIZE: 3-5'
• SHIPPING SIZE:  1/2 gallon container.  6-8"  plant (grafted).