Goldflame Spirea
Spiraea japonica ‘Goldflame’ · a gold-leaf spirea
Grown for leaves that open bronze-red, mature to yellow-green and turn copper-orange in fall, with rose-pink flowers in early summer, a compact low hedge. But Japanese spirea is invasive: it self-seeds and suckers into thickets and is listed across much of the East. A native shrub is the better choice.
- Mature size
- 3.5 × 3.5 ft
- 1.1 × 1.1 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 4a–8b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part sun
- Water
- Medium
- Blooms
- Jun–Jul
- Fall color Oct–Nov
Goldflame Spirea at its mature size
A mature Goldflame Spirea grows 3 to 4 feet tall and just as wide.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: Missouri Botanical Garden.
Through the year
What Goldflame Spirea looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Dormant · Dec–Mar
Bare fine reddish-brown twigs.
New growth · Apr–May
New leaves bronze-red and coppery orange, the older ones golden.
In flower · Jun–Jul
Flat rose-pink flower clusters over golden yellow-green leaves.
In leaf · Aug–Sep
Fine-textured mound of yellow-green leaves.
Fall · Oct–Nov
Leaves turned yellow-orange and copper.
Photos
Growing Goldflame Spirea
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, the Plains and Mountain West, and the Pacific Northwest.
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Good for
- Hedge, small space, foundation planting, fall color, and fast growing
- Leaves
- Drops its leaves in winter
- Native to
- Japan, China, and Korea
- State lists
Listed as invasive in Pennsylvania. DCNR Invasive Plant List
Listed as invasive in Virginia. Virginia Invasive Plant Species List
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Goldflame Spirea, that’s about 3.5 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Goldflame Spirea in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other spireas
Goldmound Spirea
Goldflame Spirea
Japanese SpireaAll drawn to the same scale.