Maackia amur update

Oviously no one is interested in my up-date on my previous thread ( it has moved rapidly to the second page ! ) :-(
So here is a re-cap :
"An update on my Maackia amur. It is covered with bloom buds! If a disaster does not strike it, it will eventually be covered with blooms. It appears to be very, very slow to develop them.
Any one have any suggestions on how long from 2" long catkin-like buds to open blooms? "

Really can't answer that question, but I do know they bloom very late. They are touted as flowering when few others do to extend the flowering season of a landscape. I suspect yours are right on track.

Hadn't gone back to your previous thread to review, but around here this is a relatively rare bird. There is a nice collection of five (or used to be five) big old plants at Bernheim Arboretum just south of Louisville, which are now 40 or 50 years old. I don't get out there as much as I used to, but the advisory committee meets out there this month so I should get a perusal opportunity in a few weeks.

Maackia amurensis (as our old BBuddy from GW would say, "spell check") seemed to be a later June-and-into-July bloomer here, when not much else tree-wise was happening. Sourwoods (Oxydendrum) and Franklinia, maybe a few others would have some flowering going on. I'd venture that over in Arkansas you would see open flowers a week or 10 days earlier, weather depending.

A scent rating will be in order. Seems that this one had fragrance moving towards the mal side of odorous, but not as bad as Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) which is in full muster now in Louisville.

LOL, V V , on the "scent rating". Since my olfactory system is constantly fouled up,( by my perennial allergies), I probably won't be of any help there. I have never detected any odor from our 2 Chinese Chestnuts. They are approaching the bloom stage,right now, and are about 100' down wind from our house. :-)

Yep, I left the "ensis" off the "amur"... bad !

Thanks for the info. If there are any others growing anywhere in this area, I have not seen them.

Marian

Marian,

Not much I can add except to say mine normally bloom from mid-late July. This along with Japanese Tree Lilac are the late bloomers for me. Regarding flower smell, fragrance is in the nostril of the beholder. Its a rather peculiar smell, but not what I'd call offensive. I think it was Dirr who referred to it as smelling like fresh mowed alfalfa, and that's about as accurate a description I've heard. As a kid growing up in Wisconsin whose mother shipped him off to various uncles farms during the summer, fresh cut alfalfa meant one thing--WORK! My wife grew up on a dairy farm and the smell of fresh-cut alfalfa brings a smile to her face. I think the boys did all the work on that farm. ;)

I "LOVE" the small of fresh-mowed alfalfa! I grew up on a farm where it was our main crop. Even though I had to help with the haying, I still loved the smell. :-)
Now, fresh-mowed white clover is another story...yuk!