Tom Patrick Cyrilla. This native species has always been one of my favorites, so when I first saw pictures of this new selection found by Ron Determann of the Atlanta Botanical Garden, I was smitten. It was named for the now deceased Tom Patrick, longtime head botanist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. When Ron and Tom were botanizing together, Ron spotted this as a "witch's broom" on a Cyrilla racemiflora plant in the wild. "Witches'-brooms" are aberrant or abnormal dwarfish growths from a branch of a shrub or tree. To show how compact this form is, the leaves are only 10-20% the size of the species. Here in zone 8 it is almost completely evergreen, but the more northern locations it will retain less of its foliage during the winter. Some times a witch's broom will not produce flowers, but this selection produces a copious flower crop resembling a plethora of exploding fireworks. Consequently, the flowers dominate this plant when in bloom, and many of our 1 quart plants have flowered. I have seen this species growing in standing water or on a high and dry barren slope under power lines in full sun. So it is quite versatile and very tough. Sun to part shade will give the best flower production. Even though we have a severe deer problem, they have never attacked this species. Another great attribute is its wide zonal tolerance, from zone 5 to zone 10. The provenance of a particular selection will probably determine its ultimate cold hardiness. This cultivar isn't old enough to know what the mature size might be, but some think that it might be ultimately 5'x5'. This is truly one of the more outstanding of a great native find.
Zones 5-10
