Plant of the Month - November, 2005

ARBORETUM PLANT OF THE MONTH FEATURE by Gary Whittenbaugh ROOTS Board Member Heptacodium miconioides Seven-Son Flower For me to select a plant of the month that is not a conifer? You might think - boy this must be something special! You are right! This is a relatively new plant to the United States (1980) that comes from China. It is a beautiful deciduous shrub that can be grown as a small tree. It offers year-around landscape interest with its peeling bark, foliage, flowers and fruit. The flowers are creamy white sweetly fragrant and are loved by butterflies. I have seen more than fifty butterflies at a time on a large plant. The surprise is that the tree flowers in September, at a time of year when few other woody plants are in bloom. Each individual flower is small but quite showy as they are at the ends of the branches in a cluster of seven, hence the name "Seven Sons Flower." Even though the flowers are lovely, that is not the best part. The flowers form a fruit capsule with sepals that turn to what I call a deep pink. Some say cherry-red or rosy purple. This show of color persists well into October. Which gives us almost two months of what I consider flower time. The foliage is large, glossy green and reminds me of a big peach leaf. Leaves appear in early spring, look nice all summer and remain late into the fall. They have insignificant fall color - light yellow at best. Even in winter, the Seven-Sons Flower brings interest to the landscape. The light gray to almost white bark is very striking. In addition to this wonderful color, the bark is also exfoliating and peels away in long curling strips somewhat like the paperbark maple. My favorite way to grow this plant is as a small tree. I know of a young Heptacodium almost twenty feet tall growing this way. The zone rating on this plant is zone (4) 5 to 8 or in some books 5 to 8. I have been growing this plant in several gardens in northeast Iowa (zone 4) with good results. I have noticed some slight tip dieback in severe winters of 25 degrees below or colder. The tips do seem to recover nicely and flowering is not effected. With today's landscapes becoming smaller and smaller, you may want to give this plant a try. Editor's note: The plant pictured in this article can be located at the Bickelhaupt Arboretum south of the house in grid zone 5B. The map of grid zones appears in the booklet "Heartland Collection of Garden Conifers" available in the arboretum office or at the entrance welcoming center. About the Author Gary Whittenbaugh is the retired president and former co-owner of Service Center, Inc. in Oelwein, Iowa. He has been gardening for more than 30 years, with the past 15 years dedicated to working especially with dwarf, slow growing and unusual conifers. Currently he is president of the American Conifer Society Central Region, a member of the board of directors and a state representative for Iowa with the American Conifer Society. In addition to being a Master Gardener and serving on the board of Iowa Master Gardeners, he is a member of the North American Rock Garden Society. In recent years, Mr. Whittenbaugh has appeared on public television, lectured extensively about conifers, and was a keynote speaker at the Conifer Society's national meeting in 2002. He has taught classes about gardening in Davenport, Iowa, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Rock Island, Illinois. His small garden in Oelwein (gardened with his brother, Tom) received the first place award for the best landscape given by the Oelwein Area Chamber of Commerce.