Wealden Times | WT177 | November 2016 | Christmas Gifts supplement inside

Garden
are the crab apples (Malus). There are so many varieties and so
many of them ‘do’ something wonderful throughout the year.
The better known ones such as Malus ‘Evereste’ and M.
‘John Downie’, the latter being one of the best fruiting of the
lot, are worth growing but it’s fun to look into alternatives.
M. hupehensis, which was discovered in Hupeh province by
Ernest ‘Chinese’ Wilson on one of his plant hunting odysseys,
is a lovely thing: combining fragrant white flowers with masses
of small dark red fruits in autumn.
Wilson was one of the greatest plant hunters. He started
life as an apprentice gardener’s boy in the Midlands and
worked his way up to working at Kew Gardens. Eventually
he was employed by James Veitch and Sons to work as a plant
collector. Despite horrendous conditions in China, including
an outbreak of the plague, malaria and political unrest, he
returned with nearly a thousand plant species along with the
seeds of another three hundred, most of which we take for
granted now.
He also discovered M. toringoides in Western China at
about the same time. This has a rather different habit to M.
hupehensis having wide spreading branches and very deeply
lobed leaves. The flowers are just slightly scented and a creamy
white but the fruit is very striking as each one is pear shaped
and ‘two tone’ in shades of red and yellow.
Sorbus are another genus with a huge range of plants with
stunning autumn colour and berries. E.H. Wilson also found
Above: Hawthorn bushes along the Military Canal in Appledore
Sorbus hupehensis in China and a particularly good selection is
‘Pink Pagoda’. I love this little tree. It really is so striking and
beautiful, both for its bluish green, sharply toothed leaves but
in particular for its pink tinged fruits. There’s a great example
near the top of Battleston Hill at RHS Wisley should you be
going that way, and whilst it is tucked away with a lot of other
interesting trees and shrubs, it always seems to stand out to me
because of the colour of the berries combined with its leaves.
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think that
it’ll have to be added to my imaginary Christmas list. Even its
branches are decorative as they have a purple hue.
Sue Whigham can be contacted on 07810 457948 for
gardening advice and help in the sourcing and supply of
interesting garden plants.
Correction: In last month’s issue Sue Whigham’s pictures of oak trees were incorrectly captioned. Both trees were Quercus robur
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