We Grow From SeedGolden Bough Tree Farm

RARAFLORA 2012

Our nursery is a research station disguised as a business. For decades now we have been browsing the north temperate world for plant material strong enough for our climate and fine enough for our customers.

Is a plant rare because it's hard to find in Nature or because it's seldom offered? We have both.

Our Raraflora seem to sell in unpredictable flurries, so please list second choices.

RARE MAPLES

Acer pectinatum 'Forrestii'
MEKONG MAPLE Z5b?/6m
From the S.W flank of the Himalayas. Green or reddish brown bark delicately striped with white. Crisp three-lobed leaves have long rhubarb-red stems. Often multi-trunked with a graciously spreading crown.

FLOWERING SHRUBS

Magnolia officinalis 'Biloba'
MEDICINAL MAGNOLIA Z7/8m
From sub-tropical S.E. China. Rare in the wild due to over-harvesting of its medicinal bark. Striking ornamental with large, sweetly scented ivory colored flowers and huge leaves. For warm, sheltered areas only. Like most magnolias, it prefers acid soils.

Sorbus glabrescens
WHITEBERRY ROWAN Z5?/8m
A broadly columnar Mtn.Ash popular in W. Europe and the Pacific N.W. Blue- green leaflets turn red in autumn. Long panicles of white flowers. Pinkish-white berries persist into winter to be eaten by robins and waxwings.

NUT TREES

The Buddah taught that everyone should plant and tend one tree at least every five years. As long as this was observed, the whole large area of India was covered with trees, free of dust, with plenty of water, shade and food.
E.F. Schumacher
'Small is beautiful'

Pterocarya stenoptera
CHINESE WINGNUT Z4b/28m ‡
Massive Asian ornamental shade tree related to walnuts and hickories. Named for its curious winged nutlets. Drought tolerant. Long compound leaves dark and lustrous. Fine examples within the Niagara park system.

Corylus colurna
TURKISH TREE HAZEL 5b/7m
Outstanding ornamental food tree from Asia Minor. (Turkey's steep Black Sea coast is the world's HDQ for Corylus species.) The only tree-hazel (along with a Chinese cousin), its strict pyramidal form, curious corky bark & drought tolerance make it a landscaper's favourite.

Juglans regia var.
CARPATHIAN WALNUT Z6/15m
A northern variant of the commercial walnut. The original Carpathian seed was sent here from alpine Poland by a Canadian missionary in the 1930?s. Bears annual crops of valuable nuts. Some tip-die-back can be expected in severe winters until acclimatizing into a dense, rounded shade tree. Like all walnuts, it is generally self-fertile but will crop more heavily when cross- pollinated.

EXOTIC ASIANS

One of the great wonders of nature is why similar trees grow in eastern North America and North Central China, and nowhere else. The answer involves continental drift, the Pleistocene Ice Age and Miocene Weltwald or World Forest.

MAACKIA AMURENSIS Z4/15m
All-round, hardy small shade tree from N.E. Asia with shiny bronze bark. Interesting specimen trees. Non-invasive roots fix nitrogen. Cream flower clusters push above the attractive pinnate leaves. Pollution tolerant.

Syringa patula
MANCHURIAN LILAC Z2/3m
This multi-stemmed spreading shrub adapts well to any well-drained soil in full sun. Pollution tolerant and prairie hardy. Dark green leaves turn deep purple in autumn. Showy, light purple flowers that attract butterflies are excellent for cutting.

Copyright © 2012 The Golden Bough Tree Farm