Parrotia persica "Lamplighter" Canopy Trees a Japanese-style bed

a Japanese-style bed

gray-green leaves rimmed in irregular cream

cut hard after the first frost

from late winter into early spring

a vigorous but compact form with especially dark foliage and a heavy show of velvety

Parrotia persica "Lamplighter" Canopy Trees a Japanese-style bedParrotia persica 'Lamplighter' is a rare variegated form of the Persian ironwood, grown above all for the foliage: each leaf carries a broad, irregular border of creamy white around a grey green center, so the whole canopy reads as soft, dappled light through the growing season. New growth can flush pink and rose before the variegation settles, and the effect is luminous rather than loud, a tree that brightens a shaded corner the way a lit lamp does,