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Kadsura japonica 'King Kong'
Kadsura japonica 'King Kong'
Kadsura japonica 'King Kong'
Kadsura japonica 'King Kong'
Kadsura japonica 'King Kong'

Kadsura japonica 'King Kong'

Regular price $25.00 Sale

King Kong Kadsura. I have brought back a number of variegated Kadsura vines from my visits to Japan, and since they are dioecious (separate male and female plants), occasionally I would notice a berry or two on them. How they got there I have no idea, since I have never had a male pollinator. In almost every garden center in Japan, we would see female plants just laden with huge clusters of translucent red berries, especially plants trained into bonsai. I would inquire as to how they were pollinated and I would receive a blank stare as if they did not understand what I was talking about. Then it finally dawned on me that since it was a species native to Japan, that there were plenty of male plants in the landscape that served as pollinators. When visiting a small specialty nursery in Nagoya in 2013, I noticed several trays of just green leaf Kadsura vines, so through our interpreter I asked what was significant about this selection since it was all green leaves. The reply was, "It is a male pollinator." Viola!!! Finally I had found the much sought after male Kadsura of which I had hunted for years. Kadsuras were once classified in the Magnolia family, as the flowers appear to be miniature magnolias, but it is now in the Schisandra family, Schisandraceae. The last picture is of a female plant trained as a bonsai which obviously had a male partner nearby. The other pictures are of 'King Kong', our male cultivar. One can obviously see how the flowers somewhat resemble those of Magnolia. Our 3 quart plants are covered in flowers, and these pictures are from one of these. Our next availability of this selection will be July, 2023.

Zones 7-9