Bomen-trees Davidia involucrata - Handkerchief tree

• Article number: DAVINV02

Davidia involucrata also called Handkerchief Tree or Diaper Tree.
This plant originating in West China is an 8 to 15 meter high tree with a wide crown and a few beautiful features.
Design is sometimes multi-stemmed but also held as standard.
The fresh green leaves are slightly round to the bottom and slightly hairy to 15 cm long. The bark is light brown to greyish brown and becomes rougher in old age and will peel off nicely

In May and June the Davidia involucrata blooms with purple flower heads with initially green bracts. This is an irresistible delicacy for butterflies.
The special feature of the Davidia involucrata is that the green bracts turn pale to white and up to 15 cm long.
These have some similarity to handkerchiefs or diapers, hence the name of the tree. The flowers appear on the perennial wood and come to full glory when the plants are older, from the 8th to 10th year on average. In the years before, the plant sporadically blooms at random places in the crown, but the spectacular bloom is only from the 8th year or later.
After flowering, long-stemmed stone fruits appear that look like nuts and up to 4 cm in size.

In autumn, the leaves turn to yellow and orange very nicely, later to purple/red in autumn.
The Handkerchief tree likes to stand on a sunny spot or semi-shade and can be planted on any normal (clay) soil. Shaping young plants to create the right shape is no problem.
In the winter the Diaper tree loses all its leaves.
Winter hardiness zone 7a (-18ºC).