Annual homage to another annoying plant

People should just keep planting this species, despite what they read, hear, see, or do in their own gardens.

You just might be rewarded with this, like I was this morning...

I hear lots of people whining that they can't grow this species.

Pshaw.

Surround your plant with Loving Viburnums - as depicted - and ye shall have success.

Beautiful, especially capturing the diamond dust from the back side of the bloom in pic #5. I hope you gave those last three a big old masculine sniff too.

Yes Viburnums, is there anything they can't do?

Rubbing salt into an old wound ...

I fully believe there is a reason why we don't find Franklinias in the wild. Lovely to behold a successful tree.

I'm just saying...

A proffered reason (why not found in wild, anymore) has been that this species was susceptible to some pathogen which afflicts cotton under cultivation.

Given extensive cotton cultivation for centuries in the southern US, and given a restricted native distribution of Franklinia alatamaha, it is a plausible direction of reasoning.

What do the cogniscenti say about hardiness and benefits of the Franklinia hybrids?

Don't know about them there cogniscenti, but I hear 'round these parts that the X Gordlinia critters are right good performing rascals.

Wee might make more merriment momentarily...

Yes, indeed. I have two X Gordlinia's living completely happily in pots - just waiting for enough courage to plant one of them out. As many of you heard ad nauseum, I've killed dozens of Franklinias. No exaggeration. So I'm sure my two prized X Gordlinia's are shaking in their boots... I'll offer them a last cigarette - it's the humane thing to do...

So here are a couple pictures of my x-Gordlinia, just 3 yrs old and perfectly content in a pot on my driveway...
As far as I can tell, the blooms are as beautiful as Franklinia and the same beautiful fall color. The open question is fussiness. We'll have to wait to see. No namby-pambies make it around here...

Nice that the X-Gordlinias can manage the pots that long.They look quite nice. I was wondering. Pots are the answer for shrubs or trees that I really don't have a place to plant. I am finding out the hard way that some perfectly reasonable trees or shrubs absolutely require a period to get big in pots, but others just need to go for broke in the cold cold ground.

Yes, I was just mentioning Buckeyes on that post, they're supposed to be hardy to zone 4.

Pseudo's open area seems like an invitation to lots of different lovely shrubs. A nicely shaped buckeye shrub? Anywhere it will grow! I for one still remember looking out at bleak winter and longing for as much evergreen brightness in our back yard as I managed to plant 20+ years ago in the front. However, when the buckeye is in bloom, it will steal the show for sure( not to mention the garden space it will require). The conditions do inspire longing for certain plants.

I guess Wisconsin is a bit too far north for a Franklinia, even a hybrid.

I kept my miniscule shoot of Franklinia alive in a pot for two seasons, but that was quite a while ago, before I really understood the hot and cold zones around my property and before the DG subscription. Fingers have hovered over the button for Gordlinia hybrids but I chose Cornus florida 'Appalachian Spring' from Forest Farm instead. That's been hard enough to keep alive and healthy in its semi-exposed location.

What's the latest on everyone's experiences with Franklinia alatamaha and/or the X Gordlinia hybrid?

This is prompted by the passing of the late Dr. Wesley Whiteside of Charleston, IL. He had an affinity for plants that shouldn't be grown on the prairies of Illiinois. He had quite a few long-lived specimens of Franklinia alatamaha - as well as more Magnolia macrophylla than you could shake a stick at.

Those of you unwilling to pull the trigger might take a lesson from this unassuming but tenacious gentleman who left an incredible botanical legacy to posterity - now managed by the nearby Eastern Illinois University.

I planted one of my x Gordlinias out in spring of '15 - survived last winter without a problem, but it was a mild winter. Didn't put out much new growth this spring and no blooms. While the one I left in a pot bloomed it's little head off. Still too soon to know.

This message was edited Dec 5, 2016 11:47 AM

I'm speculating that the one you planted out was too busy using up it's energy to lay down more roots while the one in the pot couldn't expend any energy on anything else but blooms.

One of my chores this weekend will be to dress him up in some winter gear.
I've got some amateurish-looking wire cages and lots of burlap.
He's supposed to be hardy here, but trying to protect him the first year or two.
Supposed to be in the teens tonight - he'll be shivering on his own tonight,
since I didn't get around to finishing winterizing the yard yet.
Still have a couple hoses out - they're too stiff to coil up!
I'll finish wrestling with them this weekend, too.

If they can tolerate a bit of shade near a pin oak, I think I have a spot to try either "Ben" or "Gordon." After having learned to keep some southern magnolias alive, it is only right to try. Where I live, the nurseries sell salt marsh hay which I sometimes pile in great quantities around a sensitive tree to overwinter. The burlap wrapped around three high stakes is the last part of the winter coat.

My yard is so sun-impaired, I couldn't find a reasonably sunny location for mine. So it's in at best under a high canopy. Hope it's enough light for him. If I had waited 'til this year to plant him out, I had a huge oak taken out by a storm, so suddenly some more sunny areas.