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 Heptacodium 

A plant with a bright future!

 By Tim Wood   All rights reserved ©  Spring Meadow Nursery, Inc.

            Heptacodium miconioides, (seven-son flower) is little known member of the honeysuckle family that is certain to become a household name.  Although its name may be slightly unattractive, it has all the ornamental features necessary to be a prized, useful, and well accepted landscape plant. Besides being rare, what makes this large shrub or small tree so desirable is that it shines at a time of the year when most other plants are at their worst.  Seven-son flower blooms in the late summer - early autumn. its 10-15 foot arching frame is covered with creamy white, fragrant flowers to create a unique and memorable show. And just when you think that this plant has reached it pinnacle of ornamentation, the flowers fade and are replaced by stunning cherry red capsules and flower-like sepals. It's as if the darn thing is blooming again, but in a different color! This unique floral display provides effective and welcome garden color from late August to until mid-November.  Although Heptacodium has little to offer in fall foliage color, it does have attractive brown exfoliating bark that provides appreciated winter interest.

            Native to the Zhejiang Province of China, Heptacodium was first introduced to the west by the famous plant explorer E. H. Wilson. For some reason the plant remained obscure until 1980 when the plant was reintroduced from China and promoted to the nursery trade by the Arnold Arboretum.  In a relatively short period of time the nursery community has embraced this plant and has now made it available to the public. While Heptacodium may still be hard to find in the Midwest, it has become all the rage in the East and enthusiasm for the plant is spreading west. I have seen stunning mature plants in Massachusetts, Ohio and Minnesota but only in botanical gardens. As for the trade, I have seen smaller plants in some of the more progressive nurseries,  but it is still hard to find mature plants outside the East Coast. I am pleased to say that I found two progressive growers listing Heptacodium in the MNLA buyers guide: Huggett Sod Farm and Ray Weigand's Nursery. The availability of Heptacodium will follow demand as more people are fortunate enough to see this plant in its prime and discover this little know treasure.

            From a nurseryman's perspective, this plant gets even better. It is a strong growing plant with few insect of disease problems.  Its large, narrow heart-shaped leaves are a clean dark green without a blemish. Propagation is easy by means of softwood cuttings or by seed, an essential component for a plant to be commercially viable. We started selling the plant three years ago and now sell a respectable 15,000 plants per year. I'm certain that we'd sell twice that number, if we only had more plants! I can't complain about our production shortfall considering we started with three #1 pots purchased from wayside gardens in 1992.

Heptacodium is an easy production plant that can be grown in the field or in containers. One word of caution, pruning is necessary to create a neat full bodied plant, whether it be a shrub or a tree. This is especially when the plant is young. In production, pruning should be done during the growing season to create more breaks.  For mature plants in the landscape, pruning should be reserved for either late fall-early winter or in the early spring. The flower buds form in spring and slowly mature over the summer, so an untimely pruning would certainly sacrifice autumn bloom. 

 Landscapers and designers will appreciate Heptacodium as easy to grow plant. It is adaptable to most any soil type especially once established. The best flower display will be obtained by planting in full sun, but Heptacodium can also effectively be used in partial shade situations. This is a very versatile plant that can be grown and used as either a large shrub or as a small tree depending how you prune and train it. As a small tree, it would make an excellent patio or specimen tree near or around the house. Use it like you would use a crabapple or a hawthorn. As a shrub it is can be used as a specimen, or it can be massed on a commercial site much like is done with Viburnum dentatum or Viburnum lantana.

            If you've seen Heptacodium in its glory, then you know how spectacular  this plant can be. You know that this plant has a great future. If you've never seen this plant then take my word - Heptacodium is a great plant!   

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