All the Dirt on Gardening

Botany dot com says that the Chinese Parasol Tree is native to Africa and Asia but it's tendency to become invasive in the southern U.S. is more typical of plants from Asia. The Parasol Tree's other names include Phoenix Tree, Bottle Tree and Varnish Tree. The seed pods are valued by crafters. Ours came from tiny (2-inch tall) seedlings that were given to me when I wrote about a glorious garden in Tulsa. That gardener's were a stand of 15-feet trees with garden furniture placed underneath. Glorious! Here's my blog entry about Tina Logan's garden - she is the incredible gardener who gave us our baby trees in 2010. They are pest free even in our wildscape. Hardy only in zones 7 to 9 though gardeners on Dave's Garden grow in in zones up to 11. The beautiful bark is complimented with the pink petioles or leaf stems. The flowers have a lovely scent and they are followed by long seedpods. When the pods open they have a brown fluid that resembles varnish...

You won't be able to make a cake with this member of the cocoa family, but you will enjoy a fast growing, unique tree in your yard. They will grow to 30 feet tall and the large leaves create a parasol of shade that can extend to 20 feet across. Firmiana simplex, Parasol Tree, has sweetly scented flowers followed by seed pods that can be used in dried flower arrangements. North Carolina State University has a photo of the tree in bloom. The seeds that follow will make little trees where they fall. Duke's site has a good photo of the seedpods. Lucky for us, we visited Christina Logan in Tulsa on a day she had a few seedlings to share. The Logan's have Parasol Trees along their driveway and in the back yard where they create a tropical look. The Dirt Doctor, Howard Garrett lists these common names for the Parasol Tree, Chinese Parasol Tree, Chinese Varnish-Tree, Phoenix-Tree, Bottle-Tree, and Chinese Bottle Tree. The bark is green and since the tree does not branch out like...