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Originally Posted by Sacha
To those who don't know it, may I suggest that anyone looking for a small
tree looks at Clerodendron trichotomum fargesii. It's in flower now, which
is a virtue but on top of that, it has the most lovely scent and the flowers
are followed by china blue berries from which it is easily propagated. It
grows fairly quickly and the only drawback I can see to it is that it looks
stone dead until, suddenly, it doesn't! It's hardy but apparently will grow
to a lesser height in cold areas. I was watering the area of the nursery in
which ours grows and the scent hit me full on, even at 7.30am. It makes a
lovely umbrella shape and all of this makes me wonder why one doesn't seen
it grown more often.
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Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/ |
According to RHS plantfinder, it doesn't exist, and offered me Clerodendrum instead, which isn't the same thing at all. I suspect such confusion explains why it is little grown here. But I have located a couple of nurseries (Abbotsbury in Dorset, and Bluebell at Ashby-de-la-Z - the latter seem to have their -ons and -ums confused too) who are happy to sell us a plant unrecognised by the authorities, and indeed show us pictures of it. Looks very nice. There are other cultivars with different coloured flowers.
According to a hardiness charts I located on a US website, which shows it growable in most of New England, it ought to grow most of here too. I also found a French seed dealer whose site, in its English language version, says it is very "rustic" (the French for hardiness is rusticité). But their instructions for the seeds have the kind of words (4 months cold stratification) which I rarely associate with "easily propagated".