anyone else have this problem with X Gordlinia 'Sweet Tea'

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Seems to waste too much energy on flowering and not growing foliage. Finally planted it out this spring. That sad little tuft of leaves has barely increased in size in 2 years. I haven't fertilized it but I don't have to fertilize similar plants: camellia, rhododendron, mahonia, etc. to get them grow at least a little!

I had "plain old" (lol) X Gordlinia before; it was not very vigorous and the first or second polar vortex winter took it out. 'Sweet Tea' is supposed tetraploid, but all the vigor seems to have gone into flower size (which are bigger - impressively large as you can see) and not growth characteristics.

Will hope it survives winter and see if a bit of nitrogen gets it moving next year. But I wonder if they switched to promoting the tetraploid form because the diploid was a complete dud, but this doesn't have much more vigor? There seem to be no pictures on the web of conventionally healthy, full, bushy specimens.

Adding to Carolina Gardening because it was bred there and mostly marketed there, so I assume some have been in gardens for a while now?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

karen__w z7 NC
8 years ago
There's one at the Raulston Arboretum, according to their website it's in the White Garden and was planted out three years ago. Ralph volunteers over there and may know something about how it looks now, but the online photos from the arboretum look a lot like yours. If he sees this post he may be able to provide an update. I've seen some nursery photos of larger specimens.

https://nurcar.com/products/gordlinia-grandiflora-sweet-tea

https://www.brokenarrownursery.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/1200x1200/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/x//x_gordlinia_grandiflora_habit_in_flower-pleasant_run_nursery-september_17_2015_426x640.jpg
UpperBayGardener (zone 7) thanked karen__w z7 NC
UpperBayGardener (zone 7)
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Karen,

VERY fascinated by that picture from Broken Arrow. Pleasant Run is a wholesale nursery in NJ in case people don't know. They supply many of the rare plants you buy at places like Rarefind, Broken Arrow, Camforest, etc. I wonder if they used a ton of nitrogen to get it to grow that fast...but the file date is the most interesting part. 2015 was after the 2nd PV winter. Did it survive both of them; or was it in an unheated greenhouse and only planted out earlier that year?

In any case, wouldn't mind mine taking on that shape! Nurcar's plant in production has a similar shape, so I guess it is just a matter of time. Somewhat alarming that their description implies it to be not much more resistant to root rot than its parent Franklinia.
Related Professionals
Davenport Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Lubbock Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Missoula Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Hackettstown Landscape Contractors · Chula Vista Landscape Contractors · Eureka Home Builders · Salem Home Builders · Wheeling Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Los Angeles Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Rock Hill Landscape Contractors · Springfield Landscape Contractors · Buffalo Landscape Contractors · Clarksburg Flooring Contractors · Clearlake Flooring Contractors · Laconia Landscape Contractors
Embothrium
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Yes: to me your plant is acting like a shrub with a water mold problem. In my area the stunted knobbly stick thing is probably most often seen with infested rhododendrons.
UpperBayGardener (zone 7) thanked Embothrium
UpperBayGardener (zone 7)
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Embo, I had thought about that.

But it grew this way even when it was in a big 5 gallon pot for a couple years before planting outside. I really doubt that was infested with a high titer of root rot organisms; as I've pointed out before, even rather sensitive plants like Rhododendron rex will survive in a pot around here (and grow) it's when they are planted out that problems begin. And a lot of the pictures you can find on the internet show the plants looking like this. (the ones Karen posted were exceptions!) Contrast, with, for example, Don Wallace's Rhododendron hybrid 'Cloudburst'. Certainly not bred for east coast conditions. Came rooted cutting size 3.5 years ago, was put in a slightly smaller pot (maybe 3 gallon) and sized up impressively. I happen to know I always placed them right next to each other in my jungle of pots...because they were the big ones that were placed towards the back. If there was some extremely virulent pathogen around, it should have affected that as well...or any of the 20 other rhododendrons in the vicinity. (Sadly 'Cloudburst' died in the big Jan 2018 freeze here)

Finally, there's no dying back, it's just a refusal to make significant growth. Any other plants I've had with root rot here, will at least grow vigorously during spring, until they keel over in the summer. Something like 'Biskra' put out shoots when it was mild in April, but dies within a couple weeks of it getting hot. This obviously hasn't done that. Maybe it's a side effect of micro-propagation that will wear off eventually?

OTOH, we know at least one of the parents is extremely prone to root rot...so it is something I'm going to be concerned about, long term, with this plant.