Well, I guess you could count this as horticultural click-bait, but we’re actually talking about one of our favorite small trees. Flowering today at JLBG is the amazing schefflera relative, Metapanax delavayi ‘Hei Shui’. I first ran across this gem on a 1996 expedition to Yunnan, China. The plant below is now 30 years old, grown from a root sucker from a plant I found in the Yulong Shan mountains. I am unaware of its cultivation in North American gardens prior to our collection. Metapanax delavayi makes a 15′ tall, evergreen specimen, that thrives in either part sun or light, open shade. As you can see below, it flowers for us starting in late July. We have found it incredibly easy to grow in most soils as long as the drainage is decent. Metapanax is the namesake of French missionary/botanist, Father Jean-Marie Delavay (1834-1895), who discovered and collected thousand of plants in China.
Being a Minnesotan from Zone 5, I am always looking for the zone capability of the plants you highlight. This one is lovely, and I imagine quite a few zones higher.
Yes, sadly this is winter hardy only to Zone 7b and south. Apologies for forgetting to add the zone info.
lol…clever….
Tony, please make this available. Hardy Schefflera are so difficult to source.
We’ll consider it as a one time offering.