Photinia ‘Red Robin’ – How To Grow This Extremely Popular, Glossy-Leaved Cultivar
Elizabeth is a Permaculture Garden Designer, Sustainability Consultant and Professional Writer, working as an advocate for positive change. She graduated from the University of St. Andrews with an MA in English and Philosophy and obtained a Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design from the Permaculture Association.
Reviewed By COLIN SKELLY
Colin is a Horticulturist and Horticultural Consultant with experience in a range of practical and managerial roles across heritage, commercial and public horticulture. He holds the Royal Horticultural Society’s Master of Horticulture award and has a particular interest in horticultural ecology and naturalistic planting for habitat and climate resilience.
IN THIS GUIDE
Photinia ‘Red Robin’ is almost a garden cliché due to its popularity, but there is good reason for that and it could still be a great choice for your garden.
Many gardeners and landscapers choose this useful shrub for their gardens – but just because this is a common choice, doesn’t mean that it’s one to avoid.
On the contrary, this is a plant which works very well in many gardens in the UK and which could be an excellent choice for your own garden.
Overview
| Botanical Name | Photinia x fraseri ‘Red Robin’ |
| Common Name(s) | Christmas Berry |
| Plant Type | Shrub |
| Native Area | Asia |
| Hardiness Rating | H5 |
| Foliage | Evergreen |
| Flowers | Sparse creamy-white flowers |
| When To Plant | April, May |
| Flowering Months | April, May |
| When To Prune | February, March |
Sunlight
Preferred
Full Sun or Partial Shade
Exposure
Exposed or Sheltered
Size
Height
2.5 – 4M
Spread
2.5 – 4M
Bloom Time
April – May
Soil
Preferred
Clay, loam, sand
Moisture
Moist but well drained
pH
Neutral / Acidic
Photinia, technically Photinia x fraseri ‘Red Robin’ is a popular red-leaved cultivar of Photinia, also known as ‘Christmas Berry’.
This is a family of North American and Asian shrubs – with most of those used in gardens being forms of the hybrid P. x fraseri – evergreen hybrids which are grown for their colourful young foliage.1Photinia. (n.d.). Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. Retrieved March 22, 2023, from https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30014031-2
These were developed from Asian species of this genus; though they do flower, they do so sparsely, with small, creamy-white flowers in spring.
‘Red Robin’ is an eye-catching example of this group of evergreen hybrids.
It has bright red young grown, and leaves turn to a dark, glossy shade of green as they mature.
While the hybrid originated at the Fraser Nursery in Alabama (hence its name) the ‘Red Robin’ cultivar was subsequently developed in New Zealand.2Photinia × fraseri “Red Robin.” (n.d.). Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved March 22, 2023, from https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=271346
It has since become by far the most popular of all Photinias grown in gardens.
Why Grow Photinia ‘Red Robin’?
Photinia ‘Red Robin’ is a useful and low-maintenance ornamental shrub which can be useful for a garden border.
Low-Maintenance Colour
It works very well as a shrub for gardeners who wish to break up the green and find colourful foliage plants to bring year-round colour and interest to their garden.
It is H5 hardy, and should usually see through the winter with no issue, though young foliage can sometimes get minor frost damage.
Easy To Shape
You can grow this shrub in a border, or as part of a hedge – it can actually be a very good choice for hedging as it is easy to shape.
This also means that it can be an excellent shrub for topiary, and can be shaped in a range of different ways – as a typical shrub, or in a standard tree or pleached tree type form.
“I love to grow shrubs like Photinia ‘Red Robin’ as standards in borders,” shares Master Horticulturist Colin Skelly.
“This allows light to penetrate the ground, allowing the planting of perennials and bulbs to create a real layering of plants through space and time.”
It can be kept relatively small, or grow up to around 5m tall; the Royal Horticultural Society has given this plant the Award of Garden Merit.
Smaller Cultivars
Note that if ‘Red Robin’ is too large for your needs, there is also a recently introduced cultivar, ‘Little Red Robin’.
This is a dwarf variety more suited to small gardens or to growing in containers – it typically has a spread and height of no more than a metre or so.
How To Grow Photinia ‘Red Robin’
Photinia ‘Red Robin’ will grow best in full sun or partial shade, but in fact, it can survive in a bed with any aspect in your garden – be it south, east, west or north-facing – as long as it is not in deep shade.
It can usually cope in sheltered or exposed conditions – however, due to the potential for frost damage, it can be best to place this Photinia in a relatively sheltered spot, out of any frost pockets, if you live in a cooler, more northerly location.
Soil Requirements
What P. x fraseri ‘Red Robin’ will need is a fertile, humus-rich type of soil, which is clay, loam or sand, and which is neutral or acidic.
It will not thrive in alkaline conditions; the soil should be moist but relatively free-draining.
If you have heavy clay soil, you should add plenty of garden compost or well-rotted manure to improve conditions before planting.
Air Circulation
One other thing to note is that ‘Red Robin’ needs good air circulation to avoid diseases.
So while it can grow well against a garden boundary fence or wall, it should not be hemmed into a corner, or have planting around it which is too dense.
Planting
‘Red Robin’ is best planted in spring or autumn. However, you can buy container-grown plants throughout the year.
Just avoid planting Photinia during arid and very hot periods in the summer, or when the ground is frozen in winter.
If you do plant in summer – take note that your Photinia will require a lot of watering over the first few months until it becomes established.
When planting a container-grown Photinia, make sure that you dig a hole double the width of the container, making sure that the depth is correct so that the plant will sit at the same level that it did in the pot.
It can be helpful to add a handful of blood fish and bone organic fertiliser to the bottom of the planting hole where soil fertility is not optimal, to get this shrub off to a good start.
Place the plant carefully into the hole you have prepared, and fill the soil back in around the plant, tamping it down firmly but gently; water the shrub in well.
If you wish to make a hedge of ‘Red Robin’, the plants are usually placed at a spacing of 75cm.
Mulch around the Photinia you have planted with a good quality organic mulch to retain water, add nutrients and suppress weeds.
Photinia ‘Red Robin’ Care
Over time, Photinia ‘Red Robin’ will be an easy plant and will require little care and attention.
However, you will need to water during dry periods over the first couple of growing seasons.
Replenish the mulch and consider fertilising with an organic fertiliser each spring and autumn for the first couple of years.
However, after a couple of growing seasons, a ‘Red Robin’ grown in the ground should not require much more attention from you at all.
Companion Planting
One final thing to mention is that you should give careful thought to what is planted around your ‘Red Robin’.
These shrubs do not compete well with overly hungry or thirsty neighbours and may suffer if placed too close to particularly vigorous plants.
Surrounding the Photinia with smaller, slow-growing plants that mesh well with the colourful foliage of the ‘Red Robin’ is best.
Some examples of good neighbours for a ‘Red Robin’ shrub include variegated Euonymous cultivars, Hebe ‘Rhubarb and Custard’, and on acidic sites, small Japanese Acers, and Pieris – perhaps with ground cover of Pachysandra terminalis ‘Variegata’ underneath.
