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A fasciated shrub from Japan. The stems are flattened and twisted in an unpredictable way and it can become an unpredictable shape,
though given enough time it will average itself out into a very large blob (ten feet). The stems are
popular with flower arrangers, but once it really gets going you won't be able to give it away fast enough (and for some reason
they always want the good bits, and you get left with the dull sticks). I'm a little ashaned to admit that I am very ford of the shrub, first grew it fifty years ago and yet can only find one, rather pathetic, photograph. Christopher Newsholme says: "A vigorous male clone with long, very widely spreading branches; branchlets shining mahogany-red with characteristic broad fasciation (bundling and flattening) and tendency to curl round in the fasciated sections; leaves lanceolate, 6-12cm long, 1-2cm wide, bright glossy green above, white pubescent beneath; catkins precocious, very prolific, 4.5-8cm long, 0.5-1cm in diameter, densely flowered, with bright golden anthers. Widely cultivated in Japan and introduced to Holland in 1950. A hardy and outstanding ornamental clone, requiring ample space in a large garden. In addition to its attractive stems and catkins, which are ideal for use in floral decorations, its leaves change from glossy green to a rich yellow in the autumn. This clone deserves to be more widely grown in the west." Trees and Shrubs online says: "Native of Sakhalin, N. Japan, the Russian Far East and E. Siberia; introduced to Kew in the 1920s. It is mainly represented in gardens by the shrubby ‘Sekka’ (‘Setsuka’). This is valued by flower-arrangers for the curious fasciated and contorted growths produced on some of the stems, which are deep brownish red on plants grown in sun. It is a male clone, and the handsome catkins are borne freely both on normal and fasciated growths. ‘Sekka’ is very vigorous and needs a space 10 ft wide even when pruned hard every spring, as it should be; unpruned, it attains about 15 ft in height. It was introduced from Japan by Messrs Spek of Holland about 1950. |
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| 13th March 2011 | ||