Excuse me while our Handkerchief Tree Flowers

Looking dazzling at JLBG for the last couple of weeks is the amazing Davidia involucrata ‘Sonoma’. As you can see, the common name is quite apt since when in flower, it resembles a tree laden with handkerchiefs. This coveted Chinese native is related to our native black gum, in the family, Nyssaceae. This mystical tree is associated with many ancient legends in Chinese culture. French missionary, Father Armand David, who first described the tree that he encountered in 1869, set off an expensive race to acquire a living specimen.

Finally, in 1899, thirty years after its discovery, England’s Veitch Nursery sent a 22 year old plant explorer, Ernest Wilson, to China, with the express purpose of returning with seed. Despite no GPS, and no ability to speak Chinese, Wilson was able to locate the original specimen, which unfortunately had been cut for lumber. Later in his journey, however, Wilson was able to locate another grove of previously unrecorded plants, from which he was able to collect seed. Despite nearly drowning on the boat journey home, both he and the seed miraculously survived.

Although they can take 10-15 years to flower from seed, grafts of the cultivar, ‘Sonoma’ usually flower in just 2-3 years.