Home > Catalogue > Nandina domestica 'FIREPOWER'
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Illustrative photo.
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Nandina domestica 'FIREPOWER' heavenly bamboo

size/type
small shrub
usual height
0,3-0,8m
usual width
0,3-1m
leaves
evergreen broadleaf
colour of leaves
multicoloured: chartreuse a red a maroon
flowers
insignificant or non-blooming
location
full to partial sun
soil type
any (acidic to alkaline)
soil moisture requirements
evenly moist but well-drained
USDA zone (lowest)
6   (down to -23°C)
winter protection
 
for zone 5+6
Kód zimní ochrany zóna 5+6
for zone 7
Kód zimní ochrany zóna 7
categorized

Nandina

The genus Nandina is botanically remarkably modest, comprising a single species, Nandina domestica, which is unusual within the barberry family (Berberidaceae). It is native to East Asia, primarily China and Japan, where it grows in the understorey of open woodlands, along the margins of scrub, and in mountain valleys. The first scientific description was published in 1781 by Carl Peter Thunberg (1743–1828) in his Flora Japonica. Thunberg was a pupil of Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and described Nandina within the framework of Linnaeus’s system of scientific plant nomenclature, summarised in his seminal work Species Plantarum, on which botanical taxonomy still relies today. Nandina, however, does not appear there, as Linnaeus never encountered the plant and died three years before Thunberg’s description was published. No fossil records of the genus are known, suggesting a relatively recent evolutionary history, yet its cultural footprint is deep. In Asia, Nandina has been cultivated for centuries in temple gardens and urban courtyards as a symbol of good fortune, perseverance and protection of the home.

The species Nandina domestica is closely associated with human settlement, a relationship reflected in its specific epithet. Here, domestica does not imply domestication in the utilitarian sense familiar from fruit trees, but rather denotes a plant belonging to the household. Thunberg encountered Nandina primarily as a cultivated shrub in gardens, courtyards and temple precincts in Japan, rather than as a purely wild forest species, and this cultural context likely influenced its naming. In Japanese culture it is known as nanten (南天), meaning “southern heaven”, and it traditionally appears in New Year arrangements as a wish for good fortune. Nandina reached Europe in the nineteenth century as part of the fashionable wave of interest in new ornamental plants from East Asia, when botanical gardens and private collections systematically sought species from China and Japan that combined an exotic appearance with good adaptability to the European climate. In Czechia it is already mentioned by Bedřich Berchtold and Jan Svatopluk Presl in their work Rostlinář aneb O přirozenosti rostlin (The Herbal: On the Nature of Plants) as early as 1825.

Description of the plant

Nandina originally comes from India, China and Japan but this variety is a smashing introduction from New Zealand. It is called Firepower and shows various colours of leaves throughout the year. Already its name says it all. Evergreen leaves are 3-pinnate with lance-shaped or nearly ovate individual leaflets. Their colour is soft or lime green when young, changing to coppery orange and/or scarlet red at the end of summer, and fiery red, and/or burgundy red in the autumn. This colour remains until spring. The “and/or” holds for slight variations that may change with situation. It does not bloom.

Our nandina shows not only different colours in every season, it also has 2 different leaf shapes on one plant. While older leaves are wider and partly glossy, new ones are very thin, thread-like, maturing takes quite a few months, and usually come out deep burgundy red. If the foliage is damaged through a severe winter don’t worry, the plant will reliably make new leaves in the spring. It grows very slowly, making a neat, compact, and very dense, low shrub. In 20 years it will not be taller than some 80 cm. 

Nandina prefers sunny to lightly shaded, warm sites and a well‑drained, humus‑rich soil. Although it originates from regions of East Asia with relatively high atmospheric and soil moisture, once established it is well tolerant of drought and is far more sensitive to winter waterlogging than to summer drought. Care is limited to occasional watering during prolonged summer droughts and before winter, particularly in young plants. It is not prone to significant diseases or pests. It is classified as evergreen to semi‑deciduous, meaning that in severe frosts it may lose part of its foliage, which is replaced in spring. Because the leaves are long and arise directly from the canes, their fall may give the impression that an entire “branch” has dropped. Frost hardiness is usually given as -20 to -24 °C (USDA zone 6). Exposed sites with frequent cold air movement, such as plateaux, open hilltops without windbreaks or open fields, are unsuitable. Its cultivation in mountainous regions has not yet been reliably tested.

Last update 27-12-2008

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