Baby Blue American Styrax. I did not know that this selection was in existence until I noticed it in the Juniper Level Botanical Garden in Raleigh, NC with Tony Avent. This has always been one of my favorite native species with its delicate wispy flowers lining its stems in April here in zone 8. I have known it since I was a child when I would scavenge our woodlands for native flowering shrubs and laboriously pull them home on my little red wagon. At times it got so over-loaded that I had to decide which plant I had to sacrifice to get my loot home and in the ground. Surprisingly, most of them lived. But this selection has very silvery blue foliage, especially from early spring into late June. It will make a large shrub to small tree of 8-15 ft. The subspecies "pulverulenta" has more pubescent leaves, which probably gives this cultivar its distinct "blue" sheen. Its flower crop is quite abundant in the spring as well as being quite vigorous. Here in the Deep South it will actually tolerate full sun if given adequate moisture with good drainage, but it also thrives under high shade as well.
Zones 5-9
