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Clerodendrum trichotomum

LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,051
Hi, does anyone grow this tree? I really like the look of it but not if it's going to expand its spread rapidly through suckering. Can it be kept to a single stem tree fairly easily? 

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  • LG_LG_ Posts: 4,063
    I have never grown it, attractive though it is, because wherever I have seen it, it has been spreading all over the place. I'm not sure I'd dare, but hopefully someone out there has experience of it to share.
    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
    - Cicero
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 28,827
    I have been given a baby one of these.  Far too small to plant out yet and expect it to cope but I shall now think very carefully about where it does eventually end up.

    Thanks for asking the question.  Sorry I can't help.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • JAC51JAC51 Posts: 159
    oh no I’ve literally just had one of these delivered to me today after seeing it on a NGS garden last weekend. Was planning on planting it out tomorrow. I’m very wary of suckering shrubs as I only have a small garden. Now not sure whether to just keep it in a pot

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 28,827
    Keep it in a pot by all means but do give it a bigger pot and some fresh compost for its roots to develop.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,051
    I suppose the upside is it's easier to keep on top of the suckers in a small garden! I was also considering a Rhus but was thinking of using a rootex root control bag for that. 
  • Loxley said:
    Hi, does anyone grow this tree? I really like the look of it but not if it's going to expand its spread rapidly through suckering. Can it be kept to a single stem tree fairly easily? 

    See the source image
    I planted one of these trees against the back wall of a bungalow I lived in previously. It was stunning. I just kept cutting back the suckers, keeping it to a single stemmed tree.
    I would not touch sumachs with a barge pole. They are a nightmare as they mature, sending suckers up miles away from the parent plant. The more you cut back sumachs the more vigorous they grow.
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,051
    Thanks Joyce! Do the suckers come directly from the base of the plant then, rather than several feet away? How did it cope with drought, Joyce?
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