Pterocarya stenoptera 'FERN LEAF'

Chinese wing nut is a native plant of China while this variety was found among many other seedlings probably in the UK. It is still quite rare and I fell in love with it the very first moment I saw it. Why? Because it is beautiful and different.

Can you recall animated movies and pictures showing the prehistoric times when the Earth was a domain of dinosaurs and other mega-sized creatures as well as plants with extremely large leaves where most of them were fern-like fronds? This wing nut looks like stolen from these creatures’ cratch. As the name Fern Leaf suggests its deciduous leaves are typically fern-like, delicately lobed, commonly 30-40 cm long, rich green changing to yellow in autumn. Adult plants bear winged fruit in mid-summer. They are produced in 30-50 cm long, pendent spikes of bright lime green colour, however, I have not seen this variety bloom yet.

It is a fast growing tree which is excellent if you want to use it as a feature in Avatar’s garden or when creating a tropical rain forest look in your garden. There are two options both of which will result in extremely large foliage. First is hard pruning that is used for plants like butterfly bush or other plants that flower on new wood in summer. Reduce the size of last year’s growth by 70-80% in early spring before the buds begin to swell. Secondly, you can use pollarding for tree-forms. When you have grown a nice trunk with a young crown do the same type of hard pruning to the branches of the crown but leave only very little: 5-10 cm only. The plants will create a dense crown with spectacular foliage. Worth trying, trust me. Left to its own devices this plant can grow well over 15 m tall.

It is quite soil adaptable. It does best in deep, fertile, moist soil and tolerates partly wet sites or compacted soil once established. It has plenty of strong surface roots which may be a problem for sidewalks, curbs, and sideways so allow at least 5m distance from any concrete. Fully hardy to -27°C (USDA zone 5b).

Last update 06-12-2010.