Heptacodium

I had posted a picture last year and raved about this tree...Guy came in and said it was NOT unless it was continually pruned etc etc.....I am now looking at it and thinking YES Guy was right. It is beginning to look very strange and I don't know how or where to prune it. We have taken out dead wood but it seems to have long shoots then hang over and then more long shoots.......this tree was praised by many as being a wonderful and unusual tree to have...I am sorry I have it where it is...(right in front of my house)..You were right Guy... p.s and yes, we have cut the ivy on that Tulip Poplar

This message was edited May 8, 2006 8:15 AM

I have seen two really old trees, and they were spectacular. Both were multi-trunked tress that formed an umbrella-like canopy. You could do the same with your plant. Cut off those lower limbs and keep those trunks exposed. I asked the owner of one of the old trees about how he got it to look so good. He said it was just keeping it pruned to develop the four main trunks. Give your plant some time.

Thanks...you mean do not prune anything off the top? I was about to get my husband to go up on the roof and cut the top out.

Hi levilyla. I too fell prey to the descriptions of this plant. Way, way overrated in my book. Rampant growth at 90° from horizontal, long weak wooded whips and a peculiar canker that weakens even more limbs. I hope for one of our ice storms to come along and waste this plant. The only reasons for not yanking it: 1) I don't need the room for something arguably better like a 'nice' Norway Maple and 2) the pollinators attracted by the late summer bloom include my neighbor's honeybees.

Peeling bark? HA! Ribbons of discarded cardboard-colored scrap in the snow. Glorious red sepals after the real flowers fade? HA again. Small raggedy clusters of wine-to-red sepals that are fleeting in appearance and can be appreciated from a distance of about 6 inches/15cm. Added to the tip dieback common on plants from the same area, this species can be lumped with that other marvel from the East, Paulownia tomentosa. I just hope Heptacodium doesn't prove to be invasive. If that is true (not invasive), then that will be it's sole remaining grace. Then we'll see how many they can sell by trumpeting "Buy it, because it is not invasive".

LOL.........well I see you certainly agree with Guy. I don't feel quite that bad about it yet, but I am getting rather embarassed about it. I do like the calyxs in the Fall...they are great in flower arrangements and unusual. the flowers do attract the bees and it has a nice fragrance.....I think it is just the wierd shape it has after a few years...long stems with nothing on them and then a huge thing at the top.

Well, it does have its merits, especially if you find a densely-flowering one like the one being propagated now at Olbrich Botanic Garden in Wisconsin. My main caution was about its defiance of all but the most persistent attempts to make it assume a decent habit. Since you have one there that flowers well, try your hand at pruning and staking and training. Read a book on training Bonsai and apply some of those techniques, and see if you can force it to mature into something bordering on graceful.

Guy S.

Staking??? this thing is about a thousand feet tall! I know why they call it seven-son flower..you need seven of them to help prune it.

This message was edited May 8, 2006 10:29 AM

Yes, but I don't necessarily mean staking for straightness. Read a Bonsai book and get some ideas. For example, while the new shoots are soft and pliant you can twist them in a helix around a piece of 4" plastic pipe or a wire cage to give them some grace and the appearance of age. That's the type of staking I meant. But it does take patience and enthusiasm! Sort of like making an espallier or trying to grow a Bradford pear with good structure -- it can be done, but not easily.

Guy S.

Thanks Guy...this means my 75 year old husband on a step ladder...I will post another picture when it has become more graceful. Or may he will twist me around a plastic pipe for mentioning it.

I retract the suggestion! Just let it run wherever it wants to go!

Guy S.

levilyla - what is that evergreen under the heptacodium? I have it on the tip of my tongue and can't remember it.

I don't think it's that bad looking of a tree - its just that it's elevated in this site. Maybe underplant it with shrubs or tall perennials. I prune up a Buddleia White Profusion the same way so I can grow Delphiniums and tall lilies around it. Of course I could change my mind any time with the Buddleia and whack it off to form a bush. Sorry to hear you all aren't so psyched about the Seven Sons, I bought one last year too! But mine so far has only 1 trunk, wonder if it would sprout more if I nip off the top.

I have Hellebores under the tree and the thing blocking the trunk of the Heptacodium is a cut leaf maple (it is not under the tree)

First of all, heptacodium is a large shrub that forms a wall, not a tree. Therein lies your problem. I say, cut it down and plant a hydrangea. ;-o

Have you seen a mature one?...larger than a shrub....this does not look like it would form a wall (at least not a very even wall).

Those are hellebores under the heptacodium? Oh I get it now - its the maple I'm looking at. You had me going there. Yeah the hep has a long bare trunk doesn't it. Wonder if you topped it if it would branch out more?

I believe the one at my school is a mature specimen, it's huge. I'll post a link that illustrates what I meant. ;-) http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/trees-new/heptacodium_miconioides.html


I meant a squarish shape.

This message was edited May 9, 2006 8:40 PM

Thanks for that site..I can't see how this thing could EVER be squarish. but I did see that they transplant easily...HHMMMMM

Mine is about five years old, 6-8" stems of about 2" caliper, and maybe 16' high. I like mine. Initially, I didn't know what to expect of this shrub and tried to prune it low and wide. Big mistake. This plant wants to be lean and mean, a leggy machine. And this is fine, because I think the bark is the most interesting feature of this plant and I like to see it.
The flowers are okay and the calyx are very nice too, but the bark is what I'm finding myself drawn to.

I believe I have experience that canker that Guy spoke of, but only on branches I pruned way back when I tried to beat it into my idea of a Heptacodium. Cutting out these infected branches entirely has seemed to cured the malody.

Heptacodium throws up new shoots continuously, and selecting a few of these to grow on while choosing an occasional older stem to remove will probably serve to control the size of this plant and improve its appearance, much like the same treatment improves lilacs.

If the shredding bark is not to your taste, it is easily pulled off and disposed of, exposing the underbark which is blond and smooth and to a lesser degree is almost Stewartia-like.

Scott

thanks Scott...I actually got my husband to prune some of it yesterday and I took off some of the lower things..but neither of us could reach the top even on a ladder with a long pruner so it will just stay this way (but maybe after hearing what you have to say this is a good thing. ) I will just let it be lean and mean.

Lev, yours actually looks better than most! And is that white dog at lower right real, or a statue?

Guy S.