Heptacodium miconioides seed

LATIN NAME: Heptacodium miconioides

COMMON NAME: Seven Son Flower

The seven son flower saves its best for the end of the season. The large, upright, deciduous shrub carries the handsome, dark-green leaves and, in the late summer and the autumn, the clusters of the small, white, fragrant flowers, to be followed by the curious, red-purple calyces that hold the small fruits and give the whole plant its second, long season of colour. The shrub is one of the fine, late-flowering plants of the garden, and the peeling, tan bark adds its own interest through the winter. It is a shrub of the open, sunny, well-drained ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The seven son flower is a latecomer to the garden world but a steady subject of the studies of the small, white, fragrant flowers and the red-purple calyces. Researchers have looked at the way the shrub flowers late and holds its coloured calyces for weeks, and it keeps showing up in the work on the late-flowering shrubs, the ornamental plants and the members of the honeysuckle family. The peeling, tan bark and the large, upright habit have also made it a fine garden shrub, and the seven son flower is a regular figure in the studies of the plants that carry the autumn garden.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The seven son flower is a fine, late gift of the autumn garden. The clusters of the small, white, fragrant flowers open in the late summer, and the red-purple calyces that follow hold their colour for weeks, carrying the shrub deep into the autumn when the rest of the border fades. The shrub is a fine, easy, generous choice for the sunny border and the wilder garden, and the peeling bark adds its own quiet interest through the winter. It has drawn attention in the international horticultural press for the late flowers, the coloured calyces and the peeling bark, and it is a fine, long-lived shrub of the open, sunny, well-drained garden.

The seven son flower is one of the fine late-flowering shrubs of the garden, and the red-purple calyces that follow the small, white flowers hold their colour for weeks. The peeling, tan bark adds its own quiet interest through the winter.

To grow the seven son flower from seed, sow the fine seeds over the surface of pots of moist, free-draining seed compost, pressing them in lightly, keep the pots in a bright, open spot and water gently. The seedlings come up within a few weeks and grow on steadily. Give them the sun and the well-drained ground, and the late flowers will come in a few seasons.

This is a wonderful shrub that gets lovely very nice green foliage that turns yellow in fall, peeling bark that is very attractive, and these also get large clusters of white flowers with red calyxs, so these shrubs really have appeal all year round.

Heptacodium miconioides -syn:Seven Sons Flower