Darren Garrison wrote in message . ..
I'm wanting to plant a couple-three "weird" trees on a newly open spot of ground in my yard. I was
hoping for a baobab or a banyan, but I'm not sure if any of these will handle my climate ("7a" on
the system used in the US-- upper part of South Carolina). Any suggestions?

I agree that Franklinia (Franklinia alatamaha) would be a excellent
small ornamental tree. Its claim to fame is that it is extinct in the
wild.

You might wish to to visit some arboretums or botanic gardens in your
area to see some unusual trees that do well in your area. College
campuses sometimes have specimens of unusual trees. Your state
universities probably have booklets of recommended trees. This site
has hundreds of tree profiles with hardiness maps:
http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/trees/taxon.htm

There are many national champion trees and historic trees available,
such as the George Washington tulip poplar and Elvis Presley sycamore.
The Patrick Henry Osage orange (Maclura pomifera) is both a national
champion and an historic tree. The American Forests Historic Tree
Nursery sells them.

Other unusual, often underplanted, species you might consider are
listed below. Copy the scientific name into google.com for more
details.

Umbrella magnolia (Magnolia tripetala) or bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia
macrophylla) -- huge leaves to 2.5 feet long give these species an
exotic look, large white flowers, not often planted

Kentucky coffee tree (Gymnocladus dioica) - large, coarse branching,
large compound leaves , female trees can produce large, brown pods
that give winter interest (pods can be messy)

Yellowwood (Cladrastis lutea) - fragrant wisteria-like blooms, smooth,
beech-like bark and yellow fall color.

Virginia fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus) - small tree with
spectacular white flowers in spring, good yellow fall color and purple
fruit on female specimens

Mountain camellia (Stewartia ovata) - small tree, not often planted,
with large white flowers, mottled bark and red fall color

Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) - underplanted, excellent fall color,
lily of valley like flowers in summer

Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron gigantea) - California native that holds
record as most massive tree

Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) - California native that holds record
as tallest living tree.


Foreign species:

Not always considered trees but bamboos are exotic. Some species can
be invasive. Many species are hardy in your area.

Chinese Parasoltree (Firmiana simplex) - large, lobed leaves: green
stems, definitely bold and exotic

Monkey puzzle (Araucaria araucana) - exotic look, spiny leaves

China-Fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) - another exotic conifer

Castor-Aralia (Kalopanax pictus) - large leaves, exotic look, not
commonly planted

Corkscrew willow (Salix matsudana, 'Tortuosa') - fast grower, medium
sized, with corkscrew branches, but weak wooded like many willows.

Harry Lauder's walking stick (Corylus avellana `Contorta') - a shrub
or small tree with very twisted branches, catkins in spring

Dove tree (Davidia involucrata) - rare in cultivation, white flowers
that look like doves or handerchiefs, famed plant explorer Ernest
Henry Wilson was sent to China to collect seed of this species

Katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) - not often planted, only
species in its genus, beautiful leaves with scalloped edges, excellent
fall color, young leaves reddish purple, nice upright growth habit
although weeping cultivars available

Dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) - deciduous conifer
believed extinct and known only from fossils until discovered in China
in the 1940s, a fast grower.

Tricolor beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Roseomarginata') - spectacular large
tree with white, pink and green leaves. There are many other unique
beeches such as cut-leaf beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Asplenifolia'),
golden beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Zlatia') and weeping beech (Fagus
sylvatica 'Pendula')

Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) - the Biblical tree