Heptacodium miconioides Tianshan (R)

The Heptacodium miconioides Tianshan stands out from the classic seven-flower tree with its less significant growth, more suitable for medium-sized gardens. This beautiful bush will be appreciated for its late summer flowering, which starts white and fragrant, then turns pink and eventually red, remaining decorative until autumn. Its bark peels off in brown and yellow strips and its foliage turns golden at the end of the season. Finally, its diverging and open habit is elegant and full of character, and by removing the lower branches, it can be transformed into a charming small tree. It is not demanding in terms of soil type, extremely hardy, and grows very quickly. These are all reasons to plant this unfairly unknown bush!

The Heptacodium miconioides is a deciduous tree from the Caprifoliaceae family, reaching 4 to 5 m (13 ft 1 in to 16 ft 5 in) in all directions in our climate, but sometimes reaching 7 to 8 m (23 to 26 ft 2 in) in its country of origin. It is native to a very restricted area located in eastern China, where it has apparently become rare. It most often grows with multiple "trunks" and has a bushy, spreading, and diverging habit.

The 'Tianshan' cultivar was selected by Minier nurseries in 2014. This compact variety reaches about 3 m (9 ft 10 in) in height with a 2 m (6 ft 7 in) spread, depending on the growing conditions. Its branches are adorned with opposite leaves, 7 to 12 cm (2.8 to 4.7 in) long, round with acute tips, slightly undulated, dark glossy green, unique and graphic. They turn a beautiful golden yellow color before falling, usually at the end of November. The flowers appear in late August, clustered in panicles at the end of the branches. They are small white star-shaped flowers with 5 sepals at the end of a tubular corolla, emitting a very pleasant fragrance reminiscent of jasmine. The flowering, rich in nectar, reaches its peak in September, with the white flowers gradually revealing calyxes tinged with cherry pink, which are as decorative as the flowers and persist until the first frost. The bark is smooth and has a beautiful light brown to beige-pink color, peeling off in variously colored flakes of brown, yellow, and salmon. To better admire it on a single trunk, it is preferable to gradually remove certain branches that emerge towards the base of a main stem.

For a little history, the Heptacodium miconioides was imported from China in the early 20th century; forgotten, it was rediscovered in the 1980s in a Belgian garden; dedicated to Courson in the 1990s, this bush remains relatively uncommon. It can be planted in a shrub bed, hedge, or even as a standalone plant in a small garden or in the middle of a dedicated flower bed, accompanied by easily cultivable Asian plants (Corydalis, Aconogonon, sarcococcas). It pairs well with abelias, shrubby honeysuckles, lilacs, and various viburnums. Asters and Japanese anemones will also accompany it later in the season. A carpet of hellebores, evergreen ferns (Nephrolepis exaltata), cyclamens, and epimediums will serve as a backdrop for its unique bark. A small bush clematis (Clematis heracleifolia, tangutica, or viticella) will climb and bloom among its branches in summer.