Flowering now at JLBG is the handsome Jack tree, Sinojackia xylocarpa ‘La Grima’. Sinojackia, named after the late Arnold Arboretum staffer with three first names, John George Jack, is a Chinese native that is quite rare in the wild. In cultivation, this styrax relative matures at a compact 20′ tall. The cultivar ‘La Grima’ is a particularly heavy-flowered selection introduced by the former Highland Creek Nursery of NC. Supposedly, this species dislikes hot sun, but since we don’t let our plants read gardening books, our plant thrives in full western exposure sun in our zone 7b garden. Hardiness Zone 6b-9a.
Do the flowers smell like other styrax (cat pee)?
All styrax family members we’ve grown have deliciously sweet flowers. There are certainly plants like boxwood foliage, and many viburnum flowers that have a less enduring fragrance, but we’ve never heard of that in the Styrax family. In fact, the fragrance of styrax is so prized that it (Styrax benzoin) can be found in a number of well-known perfumes such as: Chanel’s Coromandel, Givenchy’s Pi, Prada No. 9’s Benjoin, and Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium.
Looks great. How many years too reach that height? Is it available buy from any grower?
Our seven year-old specimen is 15′ tall. We don’t know who currently offers this, so it may take a bit of Internet searching to find one. Perhaps we’ll root one for a future Southeastern Plant Symposium rare plant auction.
I was fortunate enough to have picked up one from last year’s JCRA Friends giveaway. It is a single trunk with branching near the base. I’m wondering if it will be a multi trunk as it appears in photos.
All that we have seen are multi-trunked specimens.