I was at an arboretum recently and fell in love with the Bottle Brush Buckeye. As I was on a client's property this past week, I saw the attached shrub and also fell in love with it - thinking that the two would be amazing in mass in the back yard. I briefly compared it to a red buckeye but dont think it is - maybe im wrong. Any ideas?
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thanks Jeff - going on my "to purchase" list - I dont think Ive ever seen one natural, in bloom. Everything Ive seen has been sheared and never blooming - what a waste of a beautiful plant.
To maintain significant blooming, what is the ideal pruning time frame? Hedge shears or selective hand pruning?
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Sales are vanity, Profit is sanity, and Cash is King.
This is one of my favourites. These will get to be about 25' tall and they look just awsome when they are a solitary specimen. They look just like a cloud of smoke without any real defined edges.
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The only bad thing I can say about them is that they are quite brittle during the winter and can be severely damaged by ice or snow load (off a roof) or from a snowblower (or plow). I have the purple-leaved form and it's spectacularly beautiful.
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Kate Kennedy Butler
Labour of Love Landscaping & Nursery
Smoke tree is a unique plant that isn't used enough in our piedmont area. Sold as a shrub it really turns into a small specimen tree, great as a stand alone surrounded by lush turf. Pruning should be done to control weight, you guys are right it cab be brittle. Work on developing good branching to spread out the load, no lion tailing. In my area (carolina piedmont) the grow about 18" year. Need to contol the growth to just under 12". No sure but its a late spring/ summer bloomer should bloom on new wood. We would prune the in the fall and winter. Leave some lower branches and buds to develop mass to the canopy.
They are also spectacular as a foliage plant in a mixed border- just cut it down to the ground each year and let the new shoots knock your socks off in the spring.
Around here they have the potential to self-seed- which can cause issues if there's a natural area nearby.
Last edited by brooks : 07-23-2009 at 09:00 PM.
Reason: expand my post
