Flower Notes:
White;pink (Large white panicles in late spring and early summer; pinkish and then brown panicles in the fall, persisting into the winter)
Foliage Notes:
Green (New growth is gray-green in the spring, becoming a deep green in the summer); Red (Deep bronze-red fall foliage)
Fruit Notes:
Brown (Capsule; not ornamentally important)
Soil Notes:
Requires moist, well-drained soil; a layer of mulch is advisable to keep the roots cool
Diagnostic Characteristics:
Large (3-8" long) leaves are opposite, simple, and deeply lobed, resembling large red oak leaves with a white tomentose below. Large leaf scars are triangular. Flower inflorescences are 6-8" long with numerous sterile florets. In the fall, the flowers turn a purplish pink and then brown, persisting into the winter. Cinnamon brown bark on older stems peels and exfoliates.