Photinia × fraseri Dress

A group of hybrids between P. glabra and P. serratifolia of which the first to be identified and described was raised by the Fraser Nurseries, Birmingham, Alabama, USA. It was found around 1940 among seedlings raised from the seeds of P. serratifolia, which grew in the nursery in close proximity to P. glabra. All of the batch agreed with the seed-parent except this one outstanding plant, which was propagated, and the first plants put into commerce in 1955. According to W. J. Dress, who described this hybrid in Baileya, Vol. 9 (1961), pp. 101–3, it is intermediate in its characters between the two parents in the size and shape of its leaves and in the length of the petioles, which are hairy as in the seed-parent. The inflorescence is intermediate in width and the petals are downy on the inside at the base as in P. glabra, though less densely so. The original clone, which has been named ‘Birmingham’, is notable for the bright bronzy-red young growths, produced from spring until quite late in the summer.Two other photinias probably belong to this group, namely ‘Robusta’ and These hybrids, which are scarce at present, will in time become valued ornamental evergreens, especially in gardens on chalky soils, where Pieris formosa ‘Wakehurst’ and similar clones cannot be grown. The young growths are less frost-tender than in the pieris, and in character over a much longer period – up to almost four months.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

P. × fraseri – The clone ‘Robusta’, raised in Australia, has proved the hardiest and most vigorous of those available, and has attained a height of 12 ft after only six years in the Hillier Arboretum (R. Lancaster in The Garden (Journ. R.H.S.), Vol. 101, p. 441 (1976)).