I'm interested in hearing from growers of the corkscrew-shaped Harry Lauder's Walking Stick tree. How do you like it? How fast or slow does it grow? It's branches are famous, but what about its foliage?
Thanks,
MIke
This message was edited Jan 16, 2005 9:00 PM
Our local municipal park has both the regular form of this plant as well as a 'standard' top-gratfed form. I must admit I don't care for the standard form. The regular one has winter interest but the summer foliage is a bit wanting. Like the stems, the leaves are also twisted and curled...looks the plant is suffering from some debilitating disease! The spring display of catkins is not bad, but once the leaves come, I wouldn't be bothered with the plant. Ours are not that fast growing but that may be the age of the plant (its fairly old) and our short growing season.
Hi Mike,
My 5-year-old HLWS has MAYBE doubled in size, which is very little growth since it was only about 18" to begin with. Its winter interest is, in my opinion, its only selling point. (But in my bleak winter garden that's a lot!) The foliage looks nice for just a few weeks. It curls, attracts Japanese beetles and some type of leaf cutter that I have yet to catch in the act, and it also looks ragged after the first few weeks. I have plenty of other shrubs around it to detract from it during the summer and fall. But its curiousity is still enough that I'm not about to take it out. I've seen 25-year old ones that are really impressive. So I figure, I've got time to wait.
Hope this is helpful.
Michele
This is very helpful. I've read that they are very slow-growing plants. Guess I need to consider how long I'll be living in this house of mine. I suspect for a long time. After planting 75 roses, I don't particularly feel like moving, even though I have a long commute into lower Manhattan every day!
Mike
But what a retreat!
Mike,
Good point! It is that and more... a sanctuary, really!
Mike
Mine went from a 16" potted plant (grafted) into a nice 3-1/2 foot plant in about 2-3 years. Wonderful interest in winter, terrible attraction for japanese beetles in summer. Had it not been for the delight in winter, I'd have trashed it. But, I loved it anyway.
Grows pretty fast here. Twisting branches are nice. Foliage stinks - Japanese Beetles eat the heck out of it and ruin it.
This message was edited Jan 19, 2005 6:50 PM
Wow, I hadn't realized how bad the beetles were with this tree. Thanks so much for alerting me!
Mike
It's not such a bad plant...and the leaves are ok for the most part (still not the best in the world), but where I am, the beetles just really eat this thing alive. The leaves are full of holes everywhere and it just looks terrible. I guess now I won't feel that bad about pruning it to keep it small. Plus, there's a really nice rhodo growing near it and it'll be big enough to grow into the hazel's space some day anyway.
I put a rather large specimen in eight years ago and it grew rather slowly and then started dying back with bean shaped lesions on the branches. The winter of 2003/04 killed it off along with many others in Rockland & Orange Counties (NY). I am not replacing it as I want something a bit taller in that spot.
I have seen the same lesions on nursery stock. I don't know if there is a causal relationship but I'd avoid ones that are not perfect.
It's a nice plant, but is mainly of interest for its winter branch structure. Don't place the plant where it will be "up front". As has been said before, the leaves are semi-contorted, too, and look like they are wilted and in need of a good drink of water.
If you can find a plant on its own roots, buy it. Most of the plants available for sale have been grafted and you will be forever trimming the normal growth that the understock sends up from the roots.
Mike
We like ours well enough. It has been growing for the past 8 years or so in a big ole patio pot, and is doing very well. Not much zip during the Summer months, but it does look neat in Winter as others have said.
