Hello
Does anyone have any experience of growing champaca (Michelia but I understand that is an evolving issue?) tree in the UK or in non-tropical area?
I would love to grow one and would be keen to hear about your thoughts.
Thank you.

I have seen them in Ribeirao Preto in Brasil planted in the streets. The flowers have a delicious scent. Well for the UK its under glass I guess.

Alexander

There are quite a few other species of Michelia that are both hardy and fragrant, though I'm not sure whether any would have exactly the same scent as champaca.

I am growing this one which was labeled Michelia alba....don't know if that is the right name though
Very nice and strong smell of vanilla/banana
The leathery leaves could point in the direction of hardiness but again ....don'k know for sure

Michelia champaca is only 'rated' down to 0C [and recommended +5C] by
Burncoose
who are usually optimistic in their ratings, but they list M.doltsopa the same and that has been hardy in Cornwall - even through the last two winters.

Charles, I think yours is Michelia figo.

I have an un-named seedling [it should have been maudiae - but it doesn't 'key out' properly, so I think I started with hybrid seed.



It suffered wind burn where it caught the gales, but shrugged off the repeated -6C this last winter.

Arnold-Forster lists doltsopa and figo [then called fusca] as hardy in Cornwall. He was writing in the 1940's before the gradual drop in temperatures here. Cornwall seems to have got to its coldest in the 1960's and to have been warming since. It is a matter of some controversy as to where we are now, but local temperatures seem to have 'recovered' back to their 1940 averages.

Chad.

I was saddened to see last year that the large Michelia Doltsopa, that used to cast its scent over a wide area from the top of the hill at Caerhays, appears to have suffered greatly over the past few winters. It looked as if it was on its last legs but I suppose it could be just its natural end of life.

I do have a Doltsopa here, it's reached 8 feet, but I do not think it's enjoying life outdoors very much. I have a Figo of a similar height in an unheated greenhouse which I have to keep chopping back and which flowers well.

There is a big, unlabeled Michelia (I'll keep calling them that) at Garinish which flowers well. I think it is M. doltsopa:







There was a M. doltsopa at Wakehurst that was badly damaged by -12c in 1987, but it did sprout again from the main trunk. M. maudiae is supposed to be good to at least -14c.

Chad, whatever your Michelia is, it's lovely! I've planted a M. yunnanensis here this year, hope it stands the wind.

I'd give Michelia skinneriana a try.

There have been trials over here and during normal winters they looked unscathed. No idea about the state after the past two winters.

"Normal winters" means in particular below -10°C in some parts of Germany.

Thanks Chad

Now I can go and tell my Portuguese friends it was named after Luis Figo

It is the intoxicating fragrance of the champaca that I am after. But I am easily swayed. I am getting my greenhouse (unheated) in about 3 weeks and I can't stop dreaming of all the plants I would love to grow. The problem will be too many plants on the wish list and limited space.

My original idea was to plant it in a pot in the greenhouse. So I am very encouraged to hear from alpine that you have a pot-grown figo. It sounds like it is flourishing. Would you please tell me more about its culture conditions?

Now I am also quite tempted by the hardier species - hmmm choices - especially after seeing the picts of the beautiful plants. Perhaps I can make room for one...

Mine isn't in a pot I'm afraid. I have a raised bed down one side of the greenhouse, and it's in that. But it seems hardy enough for a large pot. I keep meaning to get one going outside to find out just how hardy it is, but it's very slow to root from cuttings for me. You can see it's quite vigorous:


It's one of those plants where you can smell its sweet Peardrops fragrance for some distance outside the greenhouse when it's in flower. But the flowers aren't showy like most of the Michelias. They're pictured in Charles Wychgel's post and are about an inch and a quarter across. They drop quite quickly but are replaced for several weeks.

I note that Charles Williams has included a Magnolia/ Michelia Figo cross with the appalling name of Yuchelia at No 7 in his list of the best magnolias at Caerhays:
http://caerhays.forgecom.info/page.cfm? ... _magnolias

I have hear that the genus Michelia is now officially called Magnolia. A bit the same as with Azalea, Ledum and Rhododendron. Now its all Rhododendron.

For scented plants in an unheated greenhouse you can also grow Hedychium correnarium, H. flavescens and several other ones like Pink V.

Alexander