Cornus controversa Variegata - Wedding Cake Tree Grafted, Plant in 1.3 L Pot

Originating from the Eastern Himalayas, China, Japan and Taiwan his wonderful small, slow growing tree, was introduced into the Uk around 1890. To my mind one of the most beautiful of all small garden trees and an RHS Award of Garden Merit winner. As its common name suggests, it has strictly tiered branches that from spring to autumn are wreathed in stunning creamy margined leaves. Flowers are produced in abundance in early summer and are formed in white upturned clusters along the tops of the branches. In autumn the leaves turn to hues of red orange and purple. Perhaps not as good as the green leaved variety, but still a pleasure to behold! A truly beautiful spectacle in any garden! To emphasis the tiered effect it is a good idea to prune out the twiggy growths that can form between the branches. Its slow to medium growth rate and compact habit make it ideal for the smaller garden where it likes a full sun location in fertile, water retentive soil. This tree is often grown in a pot or container. Use a good quality John Innes compost as this plant will be there a long time and peaty types of compost eventually degrade, become too packed and choke the roots. Ensure you feed regularly as a hungry plant is a poor performer. We recommend Osmoscote pro 8-9 month applied in the early spring. One application gives all the nutrients the plant requires for the whole year. John Innes is a soils based compost. The plants supplied are a good size for the pot at approx. 30-35cm (12" - 14") tall excluding the pot but are not old enough to show the tiered effect and will most likely look irregularly shaped with a leader going off to the side because it wants to behave like a branch. The upright leader will develop as the tree grows and to assist this you should tie a new shoot that emerges near the centre of the plant to a stake. Please do not order this plant if you want one that has already developed its central trunk. These are grafted plants.