Fuzzy Pride of Rochester (Deutzia scabra ‘Pride of Rochester’)

Fuzzy Pride of Rochester
Deutzia scabra ‘Pride of Rochester’
(DOOT-zee-uh) (SKAY-bruh)
Hydrangeaceae (hy-drain-jee-AY-see-ay)


Here I was thinking I would use this picture of a plant that I saw blooming at the nursery to make a quick post and move onto to some paperwork and email. But oh no, I found that it is a confusing and often misidentified plant. No matter exactly what it is called this plant was blooming beautifully and I saw it from quite a distance. When I checked the tag I saw it said D. scabra ‘Pride of Rochester’.

According to
Wikipedia:

“Identification can be difficult, and in particular, many of the plants in cultivation sold as D. scabra are actually D. crenata (Huxley 1992). Some species are sometimes known as "Pride-of-Rochester" in cultivation.”

And

“Identification of the species is very difficult, requiring often microscopic detail of the leaf hairs and seed capsule structure.”

So I give up. Most of the pictures I saw on the net didn’t have that nice pink stripe on the buds. Some sites even classified it as an invasive weed. So I am more confused than ever. If anyone knows anything else feel free to chime in.

I planted this tree yesterday.



It is Acer palmatum ‘Orange Dream’ in a 65-gallon pot. It went into a beautiful garden in Ridgefield. I had done a big planting job there last year and a Dwarf White Pine died so I replaced it with this. It was the customer’s idea to use the Maple and it looked really good after it was in. Another company cares for the plantings and grounds. That was quite a spiral Juniper growing behind it.



Someone emailed me asking why I didn’t post more ‘garden’ type pictures of the Estate. I wrote back saying that since it is a private garden I felt that wasn’t appropriate. Even though in way it is kind of my garden since I spend the most time in it I feel that it is someone else house and I know they like to be kept out of the public view. So I just respect that point of view and their privacy. I am sure I could get permission after 20 years but I don’t feel like asking. All that and I am not a great landscape photographer instead choosing to focus more on the macro view of flowers.