Davidia involucrata is its latin handle - google it for pics, or there might be some under D in the alphabet section at the bottom of the page.

ThinkI have heard of this Supernan61 and seen one somewhere.Beautiful but I think difficult to grow or takes a long time to flower.I eagerly await the answer from those knowledgeable ones.

No, its not that difficult to grow, Scabious - young trees need protection from frost while they're small, and they don't tolerate drought at all well, but other than that, they're not particularly difficult. Sensible to plant in a sheltered spot though.

It's Davidia involucrata, also known as handkerchief tree or dove tree.

http://www.shootgardening.co.uk/plant/davidia-involucrata

Snap!

I know of at least one in the north of Scotland and one in the hills high above Edinburgh - neither in a drought area!

The friend that said it was quite rare is correct. The trouble is that a variegated Poplar called Populus candicans 'Aurora' is often called (erroneously) a Handkerchief tree and this one is a common as muck. Now go forth and enlighten your friends ;-)

The two forms of Davidia are extremely rare/endangered in their wild habitats in Yunnan, where, like many other forest trees from the region, they have been widely clear-felled for use as charcoal. They are readily (if rather slowly) grown from seed so are very widely planted in most larger woodland-type gardens and regularly available from many British nurseries, and even garden centres.

We have a pair of them here, the eldest of which is approx 20 years old and has yet to flower, but I would expect it to start any year now! I've also planted them in other gardens too, and one of those flowered when it was only a baby of around 5 feet.

There are lots of them in Devon gardens near here and a full-grown tree in flower is one of the most spectacular sights you could find in any garden.

i had the very good fortune 3 years ago while visitng a local Manor house to see the davidia involucrata in full bloom, magnificent..

Fractal, Ilex our two friends are both rather more knowledgeable plants people than B and I they both have Davidia involucrata growing like a dream as himself stated. I agree with Bamboo it is not that difficult to grow if, big if, you have the right conditions.

There are several magnificent specimens of D. involucrata in the North East of England. One notable one is growing in the university grounds buildings between the R. V. I. Hospital and the Haymarket in Newcastle Upon Tyne, stunning when in flower. Another at Belsay Hall in Northumberland.

Where I work we have the form D. involucrata var. involucrata (two of at the moment) about five foot in height (the ideal size for planting) but have in the past had the form D. i. var. vilmoriniana also.

The Poplar I mentioned is planted in swathes along the A1 going south near Kingston Park and the Metro Centre if anyone passing wants to look. There is incongruously also a group of fine young Wellingtonia's just after the turn off for the A69 on the right hand side of the road!

I've just posted a picture of our Pocket Handkerchief tree (not sure which variety, I'm afraid) which we planted in our London clay garden 15 years ago as a sapling and which is now about 16 feet high.

Yes, it takes years to have bracts - this year was our first, and there were only about 10 of them, but we are hopeful of more in future.

And yes, as you can see, it does not cope well with drought! - to the extent that I would actually not recommend it for anyone's garden in these globally-warmed times: it's not pretty when it's like this!

I've got three of those poplars in my garden!!!! They're coppiced every three years and they're beautiful. I 'might' forgive you for being rude about them, Fractal...or then again, I might not. LOL.

I bet they don't coppice them along the A1, though. ;-/

I don't mind the poplar. It has its place certainly. The one we used to have at work before the extension to the pet centre I used to hard prune every two years (pollarded I suppose) and it always looked smashing, especially earlier in the summer. It tended to go more green later in the year and lose its apricot-pink and white colouring at the tips of the shoots.

Do I mean pollarded or coppiced, Fractal? I have three in a row, and they're cut back to their bases in early spring. It was the most asked question when I opened the garden last year - due to the beautiful colours of the new foliage.

I admit that I've seen them NOT pruned back - and they just look err...ordinary! lol.

Thanks everybody, started quite a debate didn't it? Whereabouts in Devon are you, Ilex? I live in Honiton. Thanks again

Oooh! I bet you go to my very favourite Garden Centre, then! :-)))

Supernan - I'm on the other side of the county in North Devon, just near RHS Rosemoor in fact.

Speaking of Davidias and Devon I'm pretty sure that the largest Davidia anywhere in the world - including their native China, where all the older specimens are coppiced...or maybe pollarded :-) - is at Nat. Trust Killerton, just outside Exeter.

There are a pair there grown from the original introduction of seeds by Ernest Wilson & his mentor Veitch - who planted planted up the entire garden at Killerton. The larger of the two trees has always grown without any competition from other plants, so is now, after just over a century of vigorous growth, absolutely massive, particularly in width/breadth. It also produces industrial quantities of seed on an annual basis, helped, no doubt by the presence of it's pollinating sister tree. There's another from the same batch planted at Rowallane, in Northern Ireland.

The story of the race to be the first introduce Davidias to Western cultivation is one of the best known of all the Victorian plant hunters tales, with several near-simultaneous, and highly perilous expeditions mounted for the sole purpose of attempting to bring back this most fabled and prized of trees....if you don't know the story I won't give away the ending!

Hi Spritzhenry, would that be Otter Nurseries by any chance?

It certainly would! I took Louise down there with me a short while ago - it looked fantastic and we had a great time there. :-)))

I've just posted a picture of the strange fruit that I noticed on our pocket handkerchief tree this very morning!

Rob - that's a Davidia seed...it eventually ripens into a brown nut-like thing, see below:

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/dain6.htm