Planted in fall 2005. I put a tiny one gal. container from Forestfarm at the east side of the house by the front door. This tree stays narrow; in 10 years it should be 12 feet high, only 6 feet wide. (grows to 20 feet high, 12 wide).
It is supposed to be slow growing, but it has really shot up. Flowers are beautiful, but brief in late June (rain knocks them down before I can enjoy any). Really vibrant red fall color. Just a beautiful, beautiful small tree!
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10/26/2009 It's a crazy shape, growing fast
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| 6/10/2010 | | |
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| 5/24/2011 Developing a nice tree shape |
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| 6/5/2012 Flowering is very brief, lasting just a few days in June |
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| 6/16/2012 The flowers are barely open before they fall and shatter |
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| 9/9/2012 After pruning the lower branches up |
The bark coloration is becoming noticeable.
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| 2/7/13 |
In 2013 it flowered well. They really do look like big fried eggs on the tree! I have to remember to go around to the east side of the house in late June to see this; the tree is not sited where you can really see it from the front porch or from the living room windows.
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| 6/23/13 |
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| 6/23/13 |
We take so many close-ups of the big white camellia-like blooms, it's impossible to resist photographing them.
For the first eight years this stewartia grew very rapidly from a tiny twig into a real tree. In 2104 it seemed to be slowing down, and its growth rate is more like what is usually advertised: a slow grower.
Fall color in 2014 was quite spectacular.
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| 10/28/14 |
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| 10/28/14 |
This pretty tree is just in the wrong spot. I thought it would be a visual attraction right at the side of the front door, but it isn't really visible as you approach the door. Instead, it is kind of smack up against the side of the house, a little overtaken by the redtwig dogwoods nearby, and not a tree you notice unless you walk all the way around the side of the house to look at it. It's unfortunate because this is becoming a lovely specimen tree.
Spring 2015 was a horror. A very deeply cold and long winter left so much dieback at the top that I thought I might lose this.
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| 5/11/15 |
By mid May it had barely leafed out on the bottom branches. By the third week in June more leaves appeared, but the top third was dead.
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| 6/19/15 |
I cut off all the dieback, and the tree looked healthy enough, with new leaves, and even a half dozen pretty flowers on just the very lowest branches.
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| 7/9/15 |
By August a leader was shooting up. I pruned to encourage it, and it did put out some very good vertical growth.
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| 8/9/15 |
In 2016 the little tree once again had a top leader and a decent shape.
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| 6/29/16 |
