Gordonia

Gordonia - Handsome flowering shrubs allied to Camellia, rare in gardens, and in the case of G. pubescens, extinct as a wild tree. Most of the species are tender shrubs from Asia, but two fairly hardy kinds will grow in warm and sheltered places of the south, and near the coast. These come from the "Pine Barrens" of Virginia and Florida, a region of sandy peat-bogs made beautiful by dense thickets of Gordonia Lasianthus in every stage of growth, from that of a low shrub to trees of 70 feet or more. The long black roots run out just beneath the thin peaty layers, and the ground being covered deep with moss, it remains moist and cool during the hottest summer. G. pubescens grew under similar conditions on the banks of the Altamaha River in Georgia, but only two or three plants were ever found, and it seems long since to have disappeared altogether, those to be found in gardens having all come from one tree. They should therefore stand in sunny and sheltered spots, with a constantly moist soil of sandy peat or leaf-mould, and at the same time perfect drainage. I may, however, say that I have never seen Gordonia in flower but once, in a park in Philadelphia many years ago, and I doubt very much if any of them be hardy in this country.

Gordonia Picture

Gordonia lasianthus (L.) Ellis loblolly bay

Gordonia lasianthus (L.) Ellis loblolly bay

Gordonia lasianthus (L.) Ellis loblolly bay

Related Flowers

Gordonia Grandis

Gordonia Grandis - tender kind with creamy-white flowers and glossy leaves, is grown upon walls in a few of the warmest gardens of Cornwall, but it is really a greenhouse plant.

Gordonia Lasianthus

Gordonia Lasianthus - oblolly Bay) with us rarely exceeds 10 or 12 feet, growing as a shapely pyramid, with glossy dark green leaves almost evergreen in a mild winter. Before falling they take golden, crimson, and purple tints, which are charming in mid-winter after such tints have mostly disappeared. The fragrant white flowers come in succession from July to September, their broad-cupped petals set off by golden stamens.

Gordonia Pubescens

Gordonia Pubescens - similar in general effect, but loses its leaves in winter and is smaller, hardly exceeding a low shrub with us. It may be known by its thinner leaves coated underneath with a pale down, the shorter stems of its hairy flowers, and the thin smooth bark of the stems. The flowers are larger and less fragrant than in G. Lasianthus, 3 inches or more across; in the States they come early in August, but with us not much before September, and beginning late they are less abundant. The leaves turn a fine scarlet in autumn. While somewhat hardier than the Loblolly Bay, it is perhaps more difficult to manage in other ways.