This week kicks off Wilkerson Mill's Garden Spotlight!
The Spotlight will be an occasional series highlighting a particular plant, or plant family, bringing you a wealth of information and pictures, tips on care and pruning, some of our personal experiences and recommendations and much more. We hope the Spotlight will introduce you to wonderful new trees, teach you things you never knew about your favorite shrubs, and help you choose that perfect perennial!
Spotlight On: Fringe Tree
Our first Spotlight takes a look at a family of small trees that is absolutely unmistakable this time of year- fringe trees. Also known by their latin name Chionanthus, fringe trees are an exceptionally hardy genus with both native and non-native varieties. Capable of handling near any landscape condition;
from all but the densest shade (with fewer blooms) to full sun, and respectably cold hardy tolerant, fringe trees are hard
to kill, and easy to fall in love with. They will also tolerate almost any soil type, from sand to clay, acidic
to sweet, often-wet to well-drained, making them an extremely rugged genus. For our birdwatching friends, the females of the species produce purple-blue fruit yearly that is highly prized by birds and other fauna.
Native Fringetree:
In the Americas, the common fringe tree (or fringetree), Chionanthus virginicus, is also known by the names Old Man's Beard and Grancy Greybeard; and is a showy, small tree to about 15 feet (25 feet in the wild) completely enveloped with clouds of white strap-petal blooms on second-year growth in mid-to late spring. Though it will naturally sprout multiple trunks and take a rounded form, the native fringe tree takes well to pruning and can be easily trained to maintain a single trunk, giving it a more tree-like appearance. It is cold hardy to -30 degrees F, making it a great choice for those as far north as zone 4. The native variety of fringe tree is delicately (and pleasantly) fragrant, making it a wonderful spring alternative
to the more pungent pear trees often used in similar settings.
Chinese Fringetree:
The Chinese fringe tree (Chionanthus retusus) is the rarer cousin of the Old Man's Beard- noted for its evenly spread, abundant blooms, and smaller, lustrous, foliage. This fantastic small tree is as tough, but a bit less cold hardy than its native counterpart, and blooms slightly later (by no more than a week) in mid-to-late spring. Like virginicus, retusus also produces a light fragrance, and will grow to about 25 feet in the wild, and about 15 feet in a landscape setting. Chinese cultivars, like "China Snow," on offer here at Hydrangea.com, also tend toward a more natural tree form, though they too may require some pruning to maintain a single, central trunk.
Whether you prefer the dense, stunning flowers of our native Grancy Greybeard, or the elegant petal clusters of its Chinese cousin, you are sure to make an impact in your garden, yard, or greenspace with one of these hard-to-kill Spotlight trees.
Find Chionanthus virginicus (Grancy Greybeard) here:
http://www.hydrangea.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=183&=SID#MOREINFO
And our favorite selection of Chionanthus retusus (China Snow) here:
http://www.hydrangea.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=533&=SID#MOREINFO
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