Radermachera sinica

Radermachera sinica

	A tall semi-tropical tree that has become popular as a pot plant. Rather like Fatsia japonica it is really tough. In a cold greenhouse it has grown rather leggy, and looks more like a sapling than a pot plant! Missouri Botanic Garden say: "Winter hardy to USDA Zones 10-12 where it is best grown in rich, evenly moist, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Radermachera sinica, commonly called China doll, serpent tree or emerald tree, is a broad-leaved evergreen tree that is native to subtropical mountain areas of southern China and Taiwan. In its native habitat in optimum growing conditions, this tree will grow to as much as 90' tall featuring bipinnate compound leaves (to 30" long) with glossy dark green leaflets (to 2" long) and fragrant, trumpet-shaped, crinkly-petaled, white or yellow flowers (each to 3" long) which bloom in panicles at the leaf axils or branch ends in spring and summer. Genus name honors amateur botanist J. C. M. Radermacher (d. 1983) Dutch resident of Java."
30th April 2006


17th August 2008	5th June 2009	19th December 2010	3rd October 2013	17th March 2018
It has grown long and rather spindly in the conservatory, so this year (2008) it has gone out into a cold greenhouse, where it has appreciated the extra light, but might not find the lower temperatures as welcome. I have been astonished by the hardiness of the plant. It spent the winter in a cold greenhouse, and I assumed that it was dead when we had the coldest winter for 20 years, but it came through with little more than some slight leaf damage. Quite astonishing. The opportunity arose to take it out into the snow. I should try it outside, and this is as close as I can get to preparation. It comes from the mountains of southern China and Taiwan so time will tell whether 'mountain' or 'southern' is the dominant adjective.


4th May 2020	29th October 2020
In 2020 I dug it out of the Hedychium house and planted it outside. It was very slow to get started but produced decent growth by the end of autumn. Unfortunately the wood wasn't sufficiently ripened to survive the winter, a pattern that it has repeated ever since, becoming slowly smaller and smaller. It seems to be sufficiently cold hardy to survive here but it needs greater summer heat to grow effectively.


31st October 2022	10th October 2023

References:

Missouri Botanic Garden Plant Finder, https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=277931, accessed 10.08.2024