This lovely but little-known autumn foliage plant deserves a place in every garden for its sheer brilliance of colour through the coldest months of the year. Its star moment begins from early October, when the evergreen leaves deepen in colour from bronze to brilliant scarlet red.
Give your Leucothoe a spot in full or part shade and acidic soil for best results: if your soil is neutral to alkaline confine Leucothoe to containers of ericaceous (acidic) compost. It grows to about 1m tall and wide, needs no pruning and works beautifully in partnership with winter-flowering heathers, skimmias and gaultheria for a fabulous display right through till spring.