Aloha, I know little about seven son, but I do agree with your basic premise that if the lack of bloom was being caused by improper soil pH, then the plant itself would show chlorosis or another symptom of that condition. Since I think we can rule that out, there has got to be something else going on.

Now jumping wildly to another whole plant family, let me tell you a brief story about a flowering crab in my yard: So, apples, like this crab, are part of the rose family, the Rosaceae. I selected 'Golden Raindrops' based on its touted resistance to apple scab, fireblight (turned out to not be so), and other common diseases. That must have been almost ten years ago.

So, the tree grew well, seemed healthy, but then two years ago, fireblight showed up in some of the topmost branches. And all during this time, blooming and fruit production was very disappointing. Nowhere near as good as I thought it would be.

Fast-forward to this spring: The tree was just loaded with blossoms. Now of course, fruits are amazingly abundant. So what's the message? I guess that in this case, it just took time-quite a bit more than I would have expected-to start to see the attributes for which we made this selection in the first place.

BTW, I pruned out that fireblight, making sure to go further "down" the branch than it looked like was necessary. So far, it has not returned.

Definitely a shrub. Needs hot summers to fruit well.

Wisconsitom, congratulations on being able to remove the fireblight so successfully and I'm glad your tree selection proved well over the long haul.

So I'm hearing my impatience is getting my feathers all ruffled when more time will tell. It's in a specimen area between two patios. I had to jump through hoops to get the tree approved by the HOA, so I've put a lot of time and thought for this tree/shrub. I'll try to remember repost in a couple of years as to how it matures so others may know. Even w/o the sepals, it's a very nice specimen.

I get that-you've got a key plant in a key spot. Now produce! But mostly, the plants just don't listen!

I'd appreciate your getting back in touch with us later. Here's hoping for a big turnaround.

Heptacodium miconioides blooms in late summer and fall. It's a bit early now for it to bloom.

Mine is about 12 ft tall and has been very disappointing despite the rage over it a few years ago. Not all that great for fall color, the blossoms don't stand out very well, and the branching pattern leaves a lot to be desired. The flaking bark is over rated IMO. I will probably cut mine down this winter if it doesn't improve this fall. Perhaps I should have sited it to show it better.

Mine has the flower clusters extended and should have open flowers within a week or so. Also mine began flowering in year 3. This is year 4 and it seems I will have at least double the flowers of last year despite less ideal growing conditions comparatively. I had neutral soil pH of around 7 when I had it tested a few years ago.

Good luck!

Arbordave, is that fall coloration in your photo? What I'm getting at is, without the knowledge of when this photo was taken-the fact of it being in that stage of the bloom cycle notwithstanding-one could think it to also be chlorotic. Just wondering.

Now I think about it, this species is one I was touting just a year or two ago for under-the-wires planting.

Wow, Arbordave, mine has never flowered that profusely!

We'll see what happens this August and Sept.

Mike

tom - yes, that's the fall color on the foliage (photo taken Oct 10, 2015) - not very good fall color (mainly a greenish yellow). Haven't noticed any problems with chlorosis, the foliage is actually fairly clean and healthy looking through the summer.

Thanks Dave. May have to bump this idea up again. I get sick of the Japanese tree lilacs, hawthorns, and a few others typically used in that way. This might break things up a bit.

Arbordave, your tree looks fantastic!!! How long does it "bloom" like that?

Sure the leaves aren't great in the fall but IMO the pink calyces more than make up for it. IMO the flowers are very nice. The shrub is close to 2 patios that we pass by and sit often. The fragrance is divine when it flowers. Sometimes we can have a freeze but for sure that last 2 years, the plant flowered nice and just fell off, long before a good freeze. I've read comments from those in MN that the plant set off pink calyces , and I have much milder climate than there.

Right now the flower clusters have set up again. It could be earlier than last year, I don't recall.

The flower buds appear a good while before they begin to open - my Heptacodiums (I have a large back yard with 3 plants) all have flower buds on them currently, but the flowers won't start to open until late August. They continue to bloom through mid September. The calyces have good color from mid to late October, then fade to brown when the harder frosts arrive. I'm not sure, but it could be that cross pollination improves seed set as well as the display of calyces ??

I will make a note of that, Dave. I really thought the flower buds would open soon but I guess it will be a little longer than I anticipated! Also, my Franklin tree started flowering this past week and boy is it going crazy despite a lack of steady moisture for a couple months =)

I planted 2 of them because I had read that they are called " the northern substitute for Crepe myrtles". I still have one that is doing ok in partial shade, but, they really aren't much of a good substitute for Crepe Myrtle. They aren't very impressive to me. It is the limbs on the plant that are KINDA like Crepe Myrtle. I mean how the branches have wood that has multicolored wood. But, Aloha, you may be in zone 7 or warmer, and if you are, you can grow the Crepe Myrtles that will bloom in much nicer colors than Seven sons flower, and the Crepe Myrtles will get taller and much more intense colors. So, anyway, Aloha, what gardening hardiness zone are you in? If you are zone 7 and up, you can just plant the Crepe myrtles.

If you try and add some sulfur to the planted area where you have the 7 sons flower planted, maybe make some holes into the soil with a pitchfork down to about 6 inches, and water in some sulfur dust, usually found at places that have fertilizers that are organic. We have Agway stores here. Even an application of Cottonseed meal every 4 months should help some with ph.

Well, my Seven sons flower shrub is in bloom now. I didn't notice much scent. But, the shrub is about 12-15 ft tall and has many white blooms on it.

The MN Landscape Arboretum has a specimen that blooms every fall. The first time I noticed it, it wasn't because of how it looked, but because of how it sounded. As in, the drone of hundreds upon hundreds of bees swarming it! I immediately wanted one simply for the bee habitat.

I planted one 3 years ago because of that, and after replanting it in a more sheltered part of my yard due to some winter dieback in an exposed site, it's now almost 6 ft tall and showing signs of flowering soon.

First bloom here was 2 days ago (24 Aug) - first flowering has been consistently the last week of August every year on mine.

nick - bees (especially honeybees) absolutely love the flowers. By coincidence, I had a swarm of honeybees on my Heptacodium this spring:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3919291/is-there-a-buzzing-in-your-hedgerow?n=4

What's your experience with light requirements?

I have a "new" one which grew from the stump of the tree I cut down 2 or 3 years ago. I couldn't stand it: it barely flowered; there was major dieback; the bark was butt-ugly....shredded not peeling....just disheveled, and it couldn't decide it was a tree or shrub. I'm keeping this sprout a single trunk because it is tight space and I'm hoping more definition will give it a better silhouette. However, I'm pretty sure a nice silhouette is not what you get with this plant, no matter what is done to it.

It's there and it is not doing any harm. But if it starts irritating me again, I'll follow KenAdrians oft given advice: I'll get rid of it for good (paint cambium of stump with gypsophosphate)

Marie - full sun is best to maximize flowering. Young plants sometimes flower sparsely, but my older plants in full sun are full of flowers. I agree that Heptacodium has some significant drawbacks and requires a high level of maintenance. In fact, for unknown reasons mine had more than average dieback after last winter, which was mild. It's certainly not a plant for every yard. But it is great for the pollinators, and I really like the color display on mine in October.

I'm pretty sure it doesn't get enough sun. No harm in giving it another try. I had a redbud resprout from the soil. Never mind its still planted in the wrong place and hardly flowers, but it is six feet tall and wide.

I saw embothrium mention it needs heat to fruit well. Hopefully this autumn will be warm since mine has never fruited well at all. It blooms heavily, feeds swarms of bumblebees, looks healthy, but never sets a decent crop of fruit. I have always suspected it needs a crosspollination partner but who knows. There's one a few miles away on the grounds of the nursery where I purchased mine from and I'm always amazed to see how heavily that one fruits, but they do sell it o there are always other bushes nearby.

I still like it well enough. It grows fast, has a nice shape, and doesn't seem too fussy about weather. The cankers are a problem though, but I just cut the branch out and it recovers fast enough. Mine looks like it' still a week or so from bloom, I hope it gets a move on it.

I'm gonna risk looking like an idiot, I'm sure I've crossed that threshold before, but, what is a Seven-sons-flower "fruit". I see flowers on my shrub, but, what kinda fruit would they have?

So the first few flowers started blooming today. We'll see what this year holds as far as the calyx. After seeing arbordave's calyx, I'm really anxious.

We're having 3 outdoor parties in September. It's good timing for the seven son's to be blooming regardless of the calyx.

poaky1, MO Botanical Garden says this about the fruits: "small, purplish-red fruits (1/2-inch-long drupes) crowned by five very showy, sepal-like rose calyces which elongate after bloom", so they are at the base of those pink showy 'sepals'. I found several photos in a basic web search, but they all had the fruit still greenish.

Okay thanks aloha and babs

At least 4 or 5 hummingbirds were chasing each other around my Heptacodium early this morning. Not a great :( photo, but there's a hummer visible at a flower in the shadows (mid-lower part of the shot):

All the hummer activity got the cat's attention:

calyces are close to peak color now (photo taken this evening):

Still decent color nearly a month later (photo taken today):

Dave, you've shamed me into cutting mine down to the ground. Your last post confirmed my decision was right. Despite it being in very good soil and full sun, it never looked good where it was at. I've decided to redo most of the area where it was planted. After 25 years it's time for an upgrade. That's always fun. There's plenty of plants waiting in the wings with better Fall color that won't spoil the picture. ;-)

My dull looking Hepticodium miconioides is in the middle of the picture between the Sequoiadendron 'Glauca' and the Ginkgo. Despite the crowded look, they're 75 yds. apart with a large pond separating them.

mike

The warm fall didn't help mine any with its seed set.... Here's an exceptionally full seed head (two weeks ago), most of the rest of the bush has less.

I guess I'm also joining team shamed :)

The Heptacodium pictured in all my posts above (13 years in ground) definitely has the better display compared to a couple younger plants at other locations in my yard (which originated as seedlings from the older plant). So apparently the display improves as the plants mature. Cross pollination may also help.