Evergreen shrub for identification please

[Brian Ellis]

A knowledgeable friend asks

I wonder if you can identify this evergreen shrub? Seems to be Rosaceae , but that’s a huge family, flowers a bit like a Japanese spiraea, leaves like a rhaphiolepis. Looks as though it might be on the tender side & possibly been cut back in winters, plant is about a metre.

So who else would I ask but my knowledgeable compatriots on Scottish Rock?  Any help gratefully received

[Maggi Young]

My word! That foliage was a surprise to me for an evergreen in the UK. 

[Maggi Young]

The foliage is still puzzling me!  Looks to be almost succulent- with a distinct fleshy appearance.
Could it be a form of Spiraea trilobata ?

[Jupiter]

I think Spiraea too, I grow Spiraea cantoniensis here, but perhaps your friends is crenata?

[Brian Ellis]

I think you may be right, never come across that one before, it's growing in Barnes, South London.  I'll see what they think

[Maggi Young]

S. crenata sounds like a good call - but isn't it deciduous?  Can't find any mention of it being even semi-evergreen 

[Jupiter]

I thought all the Spiraea were deciduous? 

They can hang on to their leaves in a warmer climate and they barely lose them all here before the new lot emerge.

[Maggi Young]

That was my thought, but quite a few are listed as "semi-evergreen" in the UK. Can't say I've seen that myself, but there are plenty which would not be hardy up here so that's not a shock!

[johnralphcarpenter]

Kalmia?

[Maggi Young]

Not a Kalmia, Ralph. I'd put money on that!

[Brian Ellis]

Kalmia was my first thought but I couldn't fit the leaves!  My friend says

Many thanks for following this up for me, your network is brilliant. As you will have noted I thought spiraea on flowers but the leaves did not work for any I know – but they are crenata-like. So that maybe right, and thus our grateful thanks to your correspondent. I note it is not in Plant Finder (so assumedly uncommon in cult here, ... nor is it in Hilliers .

Problem for me to resolve though is whether it is a deciduous or evergreen shrub... after I sent you the picture I began to wonder if it was deciduous, as most spiraeas are, since I had just assumed it was evergreen from the picture, but Kelsy cannot help with this as they did not take on the plot till spring.

So it seems that evergreen was an assumption and time will tell!