Pygmy Fringetree

This is an endangered FL native and if you do get one (or are lucky enough to have one already) it is worthwhile spending the extra effor...Read Moret to keep it going. I had two - one in a well-watered garden site is doing well, one in a dry location did not survive. The plant has a beautiful display of wispy white fringed flowers for about two or three weeks in spring. After that, it is simply a fair-looking shrub which holds its leaves until frost. As a native, no frost protection is required and I have had no pest issues. I note that someone else called it a "small tree" but mine is 5+ years old and is three feet tall with no indication it is going to get much bigger.

I have a "Pygmy Fringetree" on my gulf property in northcentral Florida (U.S.) It was there when we purchased lot eight years ago and ha...Read Mores survived drought and salt water which occasionally washes over it when the storms surge.

It was in full, beautiful, fluffy white bloom this spring. I fertilized it and it has started to really take off. It was scruffy looking and we almost cut it down - I am very glad to know what it is.

Rufino Osorio's excellent book A Gardener's Guide to Florida's Native Plants states that although scrub plants are general...Read Morely very difficult to grow in an average garden, this little plant adapts quite well to a garden as long as it is given well-drained soil and some bright light.

I have grown C. virginicus, (aka "White Fringe Tree", or "Grancy Greybeard" as my mother called it) in the Atlanta, Georgia area, and a mature specimen is a spectacular sight in full bloom. It prefers a much wetter site than the "Pygmy Fringetree" and grows to a much larger size, although still a small yard tree. So if you can't grow one, try the other. Both are hard to find and are quite expensive to buy, but are worth it.

I did not plant my specimens of Chionanthus pygmaeus, they were already growing natively in a vacant lot next to my house - and I ...Read Morebought the lot! I have cleared out competing vegetation and vines from around the plants, and they put on a dazzling display of white fringe in late March.

The leaves are a glossy dark green, smaller and more leathery than C. virginicus. I do not know if C. pygmaeus is available commercially, but it would make a good shrub for partially shaded central Florida (U.S.) dry, sandy sites.