Halesiology 101

I've got grand plans to put in my own little Appalachian cove forest, and would like to have the Carolina Silverbell be part of it. I've only seen a handful of these, with the closest that I know of being down in Madison (z5). Anyone have success growing this in the upper midwest? Northern Pin Oak is the main canopy tree in the "cove", with numerous Red Maple seedlings coming up. My thought is to remove the young Maples and selectively take out the inferior NPO's, which is most of them. While the site is quite protected, the trees should get plenty of overhead sun. I find the information on the species a bit confusing, and I'm looking to you to help me sort it all out. Is H. monticola significantly different than H. carolina? More importantly, is there any evidence that it might offer better cold hardiness? Finally, any suggestions on what I might plant along with the Silverbell? A couple that I thought might look nice are Redbud and Yellow Birch, but I'm open to any suggestions that fits the concept. Thanks!

Bob

Some native azaleas might be nice. I think most of the Northern Lights series are of native stock and bone-cold hardy. Is Magnolia acuminata zone 4 hardy? What about Magnolia fraserii, pyramidata, and asheii?

Scott

What about fringe tree? I think that and redbuds are our prettiest native trees in this area. Serviceberries are pretty too and the wild black cherry. I don't know about the hardiness but I'm in zone 6 and these are all natives here.

'UConn Wedding Bells', the straight species, and H. monticola have all survived for years here in Northern Illinois. I can't vouch for your climate though.

The MN Arboretum still has 2 silverbells, abut 20+ years old. They cut two other very nice ones of equal age to make way for their "all important" shade tree exhibit several years ago - the idiots. They bloom well every year, and I have never seen any kind of winter damage on them. If I am remembering right, one is carolina and the other is monticola. I tried Wedding Bells once and it didn't survive the first winter. But I couldn't exactly determine if it was definitely the cold or what that did it in.

Leatherwood and Musclewood would be nice. Appalachia - how 'bout a tulip tree and some allegheny spurge on the forest floor. Northern Lights Azaleas were bred in MN if that's what is meant by native. The only native Rhodie would be R. lapponicum, but I don't think that would be a good location, if you were ever to find one. All the Finnish rhododendron cultivars are getting great reviews here, although all Rhodies are great winter deer fodder. Here in MN, wild blackcherries don't grow to be big trees like they do down south, but they have great fall color. Some on my parents land have peach colored leaves in the fall. Of Magnolia acuminata is rock hardy, and I think fraseri is worth a try. Even if it never bloomed, it has those cool lobed leaves. And don't forget about tripetala.

I've got Halesia carolina and H. tetraptera here and both are incredibly doing fine but both are in a protected site. I'll vouch for any of the Northern Lights Azaleas.

Halesia carolina = Halesia tetraptera these days. I think H. tetraptera is the rename.

Sometimes H. monticola is relegated to varietal status as H. tetraptera var. monticola. We need more taxonomists, not less, and get this sorted out.

Try as many as you can lay your hands on, Bob. I think Scott has the germination method down to where you could just send him pods and he'll return you vigorous seedlings in six months.

If you are just insane about the whole effort, then you need to get some two-winged silverbell as well (Halesia diptera, especially H. diptera var. magniflora). I can lay my hands on scads of seeds of this one.

There is also a silverbell growing near the rock garden, by Lake Harriet, in Mpls.
Mike

H. carolina is endangered in Illinois. H. tetraptera appears to still be a separate species and is threatened. I forgot I had a third one out there which is H. carolina 'Silver Bells'. Out of all of them, the H. tetraptera is doing the best but the others are holding their own quite nicely. I don't have Halesia diptera but that's quite attractive also.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=HACA3
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=HATE3

Yes, I'm Just Plain Nuts (Lucky, good name for niche marketing venture) when it comes to this kind of thing--I gotta have a gardening project. I walked back to the site this morning and I'll definitely have my work cut out for me. The diptera sounds interesting, but is that one even hardy in Kentucky? I think the Magnolia suggestions are great. I'm not at all familiar with those mentioned by Scott, but fraseri is a natural companion of Mountain Silverbell and certainly worth looking into. Any of these spotted around Minneapolis? I also think the Tulip Poplar should be tried. I've talked to a few people who have tried it, most with little success. However, these were in more exposed sites and heavier soils (probably wishful thinking, but I've convinced myself that lighter soils increase cold hardiness by at least 1/2 zone). I hadn't considered Rododendron, but another great idea. Rather than the "Lights" Azaleas, I might as was well stay on theme and give R. maximum or catawbiense a try. The late Dr. Leon Snyder lists both as being hardy in z4 with winter shade. Thanks for the clarification and great ideas.

Bob

There was an Liriodendron tulipifera 'Arnold' at the rock garden, but it has since died. I also tried one in my front yard and it didn't survive its first winter.

Leftwood (Rick) has a Liriodendron in his backyard that has seen -35 below with no major damage (a few buds died) and his tree is growing in clayish soil. I think he needs to propagate that tree so it can be tried in other parts of the Twin Cities (hint, hint). It's a beautiful tree!
Mike

That's disputed; the wikipedia article covers this a bit. What is needed is a taxonomist to take a close look at the original herbarium material of H. carolina to see whether it is the same as H. tetraptera or H. parviflora.

H. monticola has reached 39m tall in the Great Smoky Mts NP, by far the largest in the genus.

Resin

Wow! Thats about 39 inches times 39 meters divided by 12 inches equals 126 feet! That is much bigger than I thought any Halesia would get. I imagine those snowbell flowers at those altitudes don't make much of an impression from the ground.

Scott

My tulip tree was planted in 1992, from a friend in IL. Provenance unknown, but obviously important. It grows in typical suburban modified strata: compact clay subsoil with a several inches of topsoil spread over the surface.

Interestingly, at -35F, about half of its buds died, but evenly scattered throughout and not at twig ends. There was no twig dieback, and surviving buds grew normally. No other winter damage ever, except a frost crack in its trunk in younger years. It bloomed for the first time this past spring, eight or so flowers, and curiously, only on the NW side of the tree.

This is a pic from last year.

Two years ago I bought a flat of H. tetraptera 'Wedding Bells' liners to plant in various places on my property (along with several other varieties of woody plants.) I think it is at the limit of its hardiness here, since in exposed areas it died, and is just limping along in other areas. Since most of what I plant as liners survives and flourishes, I'm assuming that it's the hardiness and not my care of them. So though I'm not midwest, my experience agrees with Leftwood's that this variety isn't totally hardy here where my lowest temperature in the last 10 years is -22 F. I'd love to hear if any of the named varieties are extra hardy or get seeds from some of the MN trees to try here.