{"id":6982,"date":"2016-06-10T12:00:27","date_gmt":"2016-06-10T16:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=6982"},"modified":"2016-06-03T11:05:39","modified_gmt":"2016-06-03T15:05:39","slug":"japanese-snowbells-worth-a-try","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2016\/06\/10\/japanese-snowbells-worth-a-try\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Snowbells Worth A Try"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mid-spring<\/a>

Mid-spring flower<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Styrax<\/a>

Styrax japonicus ‘Pendula’ at Atlanta Botanical Garden, Atlanta, GA<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Japanese snowbells (Styrax japonicus<\/i>) is a graceful, slow growing, low branched spring flowering tree. At present snowbells are\u00a0not popular with U.S. gardeners , mostly because of unavailabliity (USDA hardiness zones 5-8). Snowbells \u00a0are lovely\u00a0understory trees, similar to our native dogwoods (Cornus florida<\/em>). Small, pendulous, slightly fragrant, bell-shaped white flowers appear in May. Small white \u00bd inch oval-shaped drupe fruits are ornate by late summer.<\/p>\n

Site selection is very important! At first spring warmup, snowbells often\u00a0leaf out too early. They’re are best planted on the north side of a\u00a0home or building to slowdown spring leaf emergence and possible frost injury to leaves and flower buds. Snowbells grow in full to partial sunlight and are suited to\u00a0moist, mildly acidic, compost-rich, well-drained soil. Supplemental\u00a0watering is advised\u00a0the first two years for establishment. Fertilize in early spring with an organic or slow-release fertilizer designed\u00a0for flowering shrubs.<\/p>\n

Snowbells\u00a0reach mature heights and\u00a0widths of 18 to 30 feet, a perfect size for most\u00a0urban gardens. Cracks or fissures over the gray bark of\u00a0older branches reveal an\u00a0orange inner bark, a unique feature on mature specimens during winter. Elliptic-ovate, glossy, 2 to 3 inch long, deep green summer leaves stay\u00a0generally blemish-free. Most years, fall leaf color is of no consequence, sometimes turning clear yellow.<\/p>\n

Snowbells have few disease or pest problems when properly sited and cared for. Fragrant flowers attract hundreds of bees and butterflies.<\/p>\n

Notable cultivars:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Pink Chimes\u2019\u00a0– pink, fragrant flowers on slightly weeping.<\/p>\n

\u2018Emerald Pagoda\u2019\u00a0– slightly larger star-like flowers,\u00a0graceful weeping form.<\/p>\n

\u2018Carillon\u2019 (same as \u2018Pendula\u2019) –\u00a0 white with showy yellow stamens flowers and slightly weeping.<\/p>\n

In most areas snowbells are still a collector’s plant, rarely sold at local garden centers. E-commerce nurseries are\u00a0good sources.<\/p>\n

Other\u00a0Snowbell (Styrax<\/em>)\u00a0species:<\/strong><\/p>\n

American styrax (S. americanum<\/i>)\u00a0– cold-hardy and\u00a0shrub-like.<\/p>\n

Fragrant snowbell (S. obassia<\/i>)\u00a0– exfoliating (peeling) bark for winter interest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Japanese snowbells (Styrax japonicus) is a graceful, slow growing, low branched spring flowering tree. At present snowbells are\u00a0not popular with U.S. gardeners , mostly because of unavailabliity (USDA hardiness zones 5-8). Snowbells \u00a0are lovely\u00a0understory trees, similar to our native dogwoods (Cornus florida). Small, pendulous, slightly fragrant, bell-shaped white flowers appear in May. Small white […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,747,749,440,665,946,551,791,843,951,729,1321,630,705,1198,767,7,113,850,455,162],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6982"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6982"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8756,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6982\/revisions\/8756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}