Liquidambar formosana 'Ellen'Formosan sweetgum
An Asian sweetgum with three-lobed leaves, rarer in European gardens than its American cousin, with purple new growth in spring and autumn colour in red, orange and purple. A grafted selection to guarantee a uniform crown and reliable colour, for a single specimen or a wide avenue planting.
- Three-lobed leaf with purple new growth in spring
- Autumn in red, orange and purple, late and prolonged
- Grafted selection, with a uniform crown and reliable colour
About this cultivar
Liquidambar formosana 'Ellen' reaches 12 to 20 metres in a garden, with a conical to rounded crown, and differs from Liquidambar styraciflua in its three-lobed leaf, which is broader, and in its purple new growth.
The foliage is dark green in summer and passes through red, orange and purple in autumn, with the colour arriving later and lasting longer than in most trees. The spherical, spiny fruits stay on the tree in winter.
It is a selection propagated by grafting, which guarantees specimens comparable with one another and reliable autumn colour, unlike seed-raised plants. It prefers full sun and moist, deep, acidic to neutral, well-drained soils; it tolerates summer heat better than the American species and responds poorly to active lime.
Advice on this species
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