I can't remember whether I've mentioned this before and it's primarily aimed at Pete for him to try if he succeeds with Schinus in his garden. Radermachera sinica is a glorious evergreen tree from Southern China where it can achieve considerable dimensions. It is related to Catalpa, but has very large leaves to 45cms. long and 30cms. across, divided into many incredibly glossy leaflets and is somewhat Aralia-like in appearance. It is a very lush looking plant with fabulously elegant foliage. In the UK it is variously sold as a mini-plant (for bottle-gardens - wholly inappropriate) or as a large foliage plant for brightly-lit rooms and offices. I was first alerted to it's potential 'hardiness' when reading US message boards where it was claimed to withstand a fair amount of cold and grew easily in their USDA Zone 9 regions. Well, the garden here is technically a zone 9B, which is warmer so I decided it must be given a try. During early spring a couple of years ago, I managed to source a small potful with several 12cms. high, rooted cuttings from a local store and potted it on. It went out in April and by late summer had grown to 1.5m high. The ensuing winter (2005/6) was the coldest we'd had here for well over 20 years with several periods of very bitter winds persisting for 10 days or more at a time. The plant was defoliated by mid winter and the last of the windy periods in late February managed to kill the stems. I cut them all back to nearly ground level in early April and within a few weeks lots of new growth sprang up. By the end of last summer it had grown to well over 2m. high and has remained in full leaf throughout this winter. As with many sub-tropical plants, cold tolerance increases with maturity and I'm fairly confident about its future in the garden. Here's a pic taken when it was part-way through its first summer at approx. 1m. high. For those who have a fairly warm, sheltered garden in the south it may be worth giving this one a go. I ca't imagine it getting much more than about 5-6m. high in our climate, but only time will tell. I forgot to mention that when mature, it produces quite attractive, lightly fragrant flowers - off-white somewhat trumpet-shaped with rather papery petals. Radermachera sinica
I have grown it Dave about ten years or so ago I bought some seed from Chilterns, its fast growing as you know and makes quite a good pot plant its first summer. I ended up giving loads away for house plants. I think my plants "went" the usual way that this sort of plant "went" in those days when it got too big. They just got left out over winter and died, now days I tend to give them more of a chance and some protection for a couple of years. Who knows, had I done that I could well have quite a sizable tree now. I might give it a go if I see a plant for sale, as I did think it was a really good easy foliage plant.
