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    • Rose Bloom Balling
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    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
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    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
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Handkerchief or Dove Tree

May's Plant of the Month
Amanda's Garden Consulting 

It's One Funky Looking Tree

Handkerchief tree,dove tree,Davidia involucrata,trees with white flowers,white bracts,flowering tree,May flowering tree
Handkerchief tree,dove tree,Davidia involucrata,trees with white flowers,white bracts,flowering tree,May flowering tree
Handkerchief tree,dove tree,Davidia involucrata,trees with white flowers,white bracts,flowering tree,May flowering tree
Handkerchief tree,dove tree,Davidia involucrata,trees with white flowers,white bracts,flowering tree,May flowering tree
Handkerchief tree,dove tree,Davidia involucrata,trees with white flowers,white bracts,flowering tree,May flowering tree
Handkerchief tree,dove tree,Davidia involucrata,trees with white flowers,white bracts,flowering tree,May flowering tree
Handkerchief tree,dove tree,Davidia involucrata,trees with white flowers,white bracts,flowering tree,May flowering tree
Common Name:  Handkerchief Tree or Dove Tree
Botanical Name:  Davidia involucrata
Form:    upright flowering tree with a broad, pyramidal spreading canopy
Family:  Nyssaceae
Genus:  Davidia
Species:  involucrata
Plant Type: deciduous tree
Mature Size:  20 to 40 feet height and spread
Origin:  Southwest China
Hardiness Zone: 6 to 8
Foliage:  bright green 3-6 inch broadly oval, serrated margins with a heart-shaped base, good orange and red fall colour
Flowers: red anthers are surrounded with large, showy floppy white bracts up to 7 inches long
Fruit: greenish-brown and round the size of golf balls
Exposure:  full sun to part shade
Soil:  organically rich, moist but well-drained, does not like drought
Uses:  shade tree, specimen,
Propagation:   seed, hardwood cuttings
Pruning:  late summer to early autumn
​Problems:  no serious problems

Comments:  
 
The handkerchief tree is aptly named due to its large white bracted flowers resemble hankies or Kleenex swaying in the breeze. Its other name is Dove Tree, which is a much nicer name. It makes sense as as they do resemble white doves resting on its limbs – when the breeze fails to blow.
 
Despite their flagrantly unusual flowers, they are not a common tree, but when you do see one in flower, it makes a huge impression. The first one I saw was in full blooming mode was VanDusen Botanical Gardens. The white dangling blossoms hung off the branches as though someone had placed them on, one by one. The next time I saw one was at Bear Creek Park in Surrey. It was fortuitous, as I was conducting a plant ID class at the time. The students hadn’t seen anything like it and they were very impressed with such an unusual specimen.
 
This is an easy tree to grow. It has good bones and it makes a good shade tree with its spreading canopy. It rarely needs pruning and isn’t prone to insects and diseases, however it doesn’t like really hot sunny locations nor soil that is too dry.
 
Just one last note. If you decide this tree is for you, just remember when it drops it’s white bracts, that they are indeed flowers on the ground and not hankies! ​
Handkerchief tree,dove tree,Davidia involucrata,trees with white flowers,white bracts,flowering tree,May flowering tree
Handkerchief tree,dove tree,Davidia involucrata,trees with white flowers,white bracts,flowering tree,May flowering tree

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  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn Basics
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Alternatives
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulch & Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • How to Garden Topics
    • Fall Garden Chores
    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
    • Spring Veggie Gardening
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Garden Inspections
    • Helping Pollinators
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Dahlias
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Evergreen Clematis
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
    • Garden Phlox
    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
    • Handkerchief or Dove Tree
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Oriental Lilies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pink Dawn Bodnant Viburnum
    • Poinsettias
    • Oregon Grape Holly
    • Ornamental Kale
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Portuguese Laurel
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
    • Snowberry
    • Snowdrops
    • Star Magnolia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Winter Camellia, C. sasanqua
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
    • Wood Anemones
    • Yews
  • Garden Tour Blogs
  • Monthly Flower Arrangements
  • Website Index
  • Subscribe
  • Need Help?
  • Garden Club Events