An original creation of horticultural art all created locally in the Milwaukee area by Michael Yanny. All the plants were developed in this area for our climate. Pink-a-licious originated from a selection made by Michael Yanny from a crop of open pollinated seedlings of Spiraea fritschiana started in 2000 at Johnson's Nursery. The likely pollen parent is Spiraea x bumalda 'Norman'. Unlike its white flowered mother, Pink-a-licious? has abundant purplish, pink flat-topped clusters of flowers in June. This cultivar has a wonderful,compact habit. It grows to 2-3' tall by 2-3' wide in Southern Wisconsin. The fall color on this plant can be outstanding, being a combination of the colors of a fruit salad. Often times the plant will have fall colors of pineapple yellow, watermelon pink, honey dew chartreuse, and cantaloupe orange all on the same plant at the same time. Pink-a-licious is easy to grow, requiring full sun to partial shade, and is tolerant of a wide range of soil types.
Pink-a-licious? is a sterile triploid plant that has a very high percentage of infertile pollen and therefore produce very few to no fertile seeds. This makes the plant easier to maintain in planting beds. There is no need to weed out seedlings from beneath plantings. In addition, the plant is much more ecologically friendly with very little to no potential to become invasive.