Britain's mild maritime climate does not have enough extremes to some continental plants. Winter is neither cold enough nor summer sufficiently hot to get their breeding instincts going. But last December's cold snap and the warm spring stirred one rare and reluctant Chinese tree, now more than 40ft high, to flower for the first time since it was planted in 1928. Alongside it a second, younger specimen is blossoming too.
The deciduous tree is from south-west China, has only a Latin name Emmenopterys henryi, and was introduced to Britain in 1907 by the plant hunter, Ernest Wilson. He described it as one of the "most strikingly beautiful trees of the Chinese forests." This is partly because it has reddish purple shoots in the spring and red leaves turning glossy green as summer progresses. However, Wilson did not realise the tree needed freezing Chinese winters and hot summers to induce it to produce its beautiful clusters of white flowers.
The species was recorded flowering in Europe first in Italy in 1971 and then in 1987 at Kew Gardens' country outpost, Wakehurst Place in West Sussex. The two trees flowering side by side this year are also in Sussex at the Borde Hill Garden in Haywards Heath. They look slightly different, with the younger one having smaller leaves. This flowered first in 2010 when a cold winter was followed by a warm summer spell. It took this year's slightly more extreme conditions to trigger both trees into action.