Sweet Gum Liquidambar styraciflua
- One of the very best trees you can grow for spectacular autumn leaf colour.
- A great garden tree where you have space - it will grow to 5-6m tall in 10 years and taller after that.
- Make a feature of it in a lawn or as a specimen tree.
- In autumn, it is engulfed in fiery red to orange, lasting several weeks.
- Supplied as a 5L potted tree to plant out any time of year.
Product Description
This incredibly beautiful Liquidambar styraciflua tree will truly transform your garden with it year-round colourful displays.
A truly impressive ornamental tree, it is in the gloomier months of the year when this stunning tree really comes into its own - in autumn, the foliage starts to change colour spectacularly, literally engulfing the tree in shades of fiery-orange and brilliant-red.
Commonly known as 'Sweet Gum', Liquidambar produces attractive, glossy green maple-like leaves in spring and summer, along small, yellow-white flowers which are followed by burred fruit capsules affectionately known as monkey-balls!
A useful addition to your garden, both for colour and form, the tree's bark is also very unusual, with corky scales that become wonderful deep ridges as the tree ages - perfect for the kids to take bark rubbings. It produces a sticky, sweetly fragrant resin when cut, hence the name.
This really is one of the very best trees for autumn colour, making both a wonderful feature tree, and a useful addition to the back of a border where it will shine.
Supplied as an established tree in a 5L pot, ready for immediate planting, the sweet gum will reach H12m x W8m so appreciates room to grow.
What Is Supplied
Plant Information
Top Tips
Care Guide
Planting Advice for Liquidambar styraciflua Trees:
- Select an appropriate spot with enough space to allow your Katsura tree to grow. Slightly acidic soils will promote better leaf colour.
- Dig a hole twice the width of the roots, forking over the bottom to loosen the soil, then add some good quality fertiliser, compost or well-rotted manure. We've found that a square hole is better than a round one as the new roots, once they reach the edges tend to grow in a circle round the circumference of the hole whereas when they reach the corners of a square hole, they find it easier to grow through.
- Plant at the same depth as the tree was in its pot.
- For all trees, use our Tree Planting Kits – including stakes, rubber ties and Mycorrhizal fungi, which is proven to aid tree growth and development.
- Push 40cm of each stake into the soil next to each tree. Make a figure of eight around both the trunk and stake with a tie and fasten it off. Spread Mycorrhizal granules in contact with the roots when planting.
Holding the tree upright in position with one hand, slowly backfill the hole with soil, so the soil falls back around the roots. - Compact the soil around the plant with your heel to ensure good contact around the roots and water in well.
- Mulch around the base of the plant with a collar, compost, gravel, bark etc.
Aftercare Advice for Liquidambar Sweet Gum:
- Best in full sun to grow well, in well-drained, fertile and slightly acid soils.
- Established trees are largely trouble free.
- Apply a balanced fertiliser such as fish blood and bone in late February.
- Keep plants well-watered for at least 4 years and remove all competing vegetation.
- A mulch of well-rotted compost around the base of the tree will help to retain moisture.
Pruning Advice for Sweet Gum Liquidambar styraciflua:
- Liquidambar does not require regular pruning but can be trimmed lightly if needed. In late winter/early spring, remove any branches that are damaged, crossing or weak. You should also remove any suckers.
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