Good evening my friend has purchased a 'Katsura' Cercidiphyllum japonicum as a gift for me she said its called a Toffee Apple tree does it need special care and is it hardy thank you its in a 3 litre pot
I ised to have four of those in my garden. As to how hardy it is, a lot depends on the variety. If mempry serves, the RHS says zone 5, but I suspect that is incorrect. As to special care, they must be grown in acid soil. One thing is certain, it wont survive in a pot.
Good evening @Sandy Ground my friend and thank you Its definitely going in the ground I have the perfect place for it
This is an interesting subject as there are different varieties. Usually the one known as Toffee Apple or Caramel is the weeping version and droops like a weeping willow, but that would have been labelled 'pendulum'. Very few of the others have the caramel smell but can have a hint of it. Others vary considerably but all should easily be hardy in this country. A lot of the varieties can get quite large for a suburban garden. So it depends on which they have. Some of them have smooth edged heart shaped leaves and some, but fewer, have serrated heart shaped leaves. We currently have two (possibly three ) in our garden. The leaves have a good and changeable colour throughout the year. We don't have acid soil and they grow rather well (the larger one is now about 14ft high but we keep trimming it back to that) - but most things grow well in our garden. We still think everything grows so well because we talk to them nicely .
There is one growing in a nursery local to me, I haven't a clue which variety it is, but around now you can smell it, but I must admit to have never bothered to look for it. I might have a look round there on Monday. Its a good day for raiding their plastic pot dump, as they allow people to bring in all their unwanted pots and put them in the skip for recycling.
Planted one in the garden here about six years ago and it is doing fine on a north facing slope where there has been snow at times. It has done well with no special treatment. I have noticed the leaves can get a bit of frost damage but it has recovered quickly and provides nice leaf colour in spring and autumn. Happy gardening!
Good morning @shiney @pete and @Macraignil and thank you for all your help very much apptreciated my friends
