What’s new on the planting scene?

Press, 13 May 1988, Page 14

What’s new on the planting scene?

Redesigning and replanting are, of course inevitable in any garden once it is a few years old. Some shrubs and trees fail to come up to expectation, and others, planted as temporary filler, complete their assigned tasks and become superfluous. Paths may prove to be inconveniently sited, and some borders awkward to deal with. Family needs change, to, as children grow up and move away. But mainly, I move things in the garden because I like doing so. I like to note the effects of different sites and different combinations of plants. Just the other day,

for example, I winched out a large berberis, originally planted beside a path to prevent small children and dogs from diverting across the garden.

The path has been moved, the children have grown up, and the dog has grown old, so the berberis is no longer needed. Was no longer needed, that is. Pretty though it was in late winter when smothered with golden flowers, it was a nuisance: Prickly, difficult to prune satisfactorily, and overgenerous with its seedlings. I have replaced it with something nonprickly and rather special

a small tree called Rehderodendron macrocarpum. I brought this tree back from the North Island last year as a very small seedling, which I grew on to planting size. It is a rather rare member of the snowbell family (Styracaceae) and has long racemes of elegant white flowers which appear with the emergent leaves in spring. A more familiar member of this group, the snowbell tree itself,. Styrax japonica, also has attractive whiteflowers but does not present them until summer. I have this growing into

quite a nice small tree with layered branches, and its small, glossy leaves are just starting to turn yellow. According to Hilliers, the larger, thicker leaves of Rehderodendron usually tint attractively before falling in autumn but so far those of my tree show no sign of either tinting or falling. Rehderodendron macrocarpum is a relatively recent discovery, having been found and named by Chinese botanists only in the early 19305. It comes from Mt Omei, a great storehouse of horticultural treasures. About 1934 it was intro-

duced to cultivation in Britain, and in 1947 it was put up for judging at the Royal Horticultural Society and received an Award of Merit as a flowering tree. Four decades later it remains little known and little grown. Outside New Plymouth, I don’t know of any in public collections in New Zealand, yet there seems to be no difficulty in growing it. My plant has gone from a few centimetres tall to 60cm in its first season.

Derrick Rooney’s “Gardener’s Diary” will be published again in June.