Here’s a fantastic plant that you don't see much. It is one of the best small evergreen trees for city gardens. No broadleaf evergreen comes through the winter with leaves of comparable freshness. (These photos were taken at BBG in March.) It is happy in half sun to half shade on acid, moist woodland soil.
Slow growth, eventually to 20 or 30 feet, may have limited its popularity. (Gardeners are suckered by the promise of rapid growth, but most really handsome plants are slow.)
And then Trochodendron araliodes is a mouthful. The colloquial name, “Wheel Tree”, refers to the disposition of the stamens. It won’t catch on because nothing about the general look of Trochodendron suggests a wheel. (“Ivy Tree” might be more apt, as the leaves resemble the mature growth of English Ivy.)
I saw it once at a plant sale at the wonderful Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon. Rare Find Nursery lists it online.
Slow growth, eventually to 20 or 30 feet, may have limited its popularity. (Gardeners are suckered by the promise of rapid growth, but most really handsome plants are slow.)
And then Trochodendron araliodes is a mouthful. The colloquial name, “Wheel Tree”, refers to the disposition of the stamens. It won’t catch on because nothing about the general look of Trochodendron suggests a wheel. (“Ivy Tree” might be more apt, as the leaves resemble the mature growth of English Ivy.)
I saw it once at a plant sale at the wonderful Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon. Rare Find Nursery lists it online.
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