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

Deutzia was named by Carl Peter Thunberg for his friend and patron, Johann van der Deutz, 18th century botanist.

The following cultivars and hybrids have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:[6]- The temperate deutzias are mostly hardy shrubs from East Asia where winters are dependably frozen; in milder climates, like much of England, the early-flowering species and hybrids are coaxed into premature bloom by mild spells, then spoilt by frost.

A solution in milder climates might be to site deutzia in the garden's most exposed, coldest microclimate, as is often done with early-flowering magnolias.

The selected hybrid white double "Pride-of-Rochester", already in cultivation in 1881, was originated by the Rochester, New York nurserymen Ellwanger and Barry.