Franklinia alatamaha

My Franklinia alatamaha is beginning to bloom. I always love when it gives me flowers.

Oh, those are rather rare, aren't they? Pretty flower!

What is it, a flowering shrub? Does it smell good?

Nyboy and Smart Red, and to other members who read my post. I see you like my picture of my Franklinia alatamaha. This is one of our uncommon plants that we keep in our gardens. It is extinct in the wild. The only ones you will find anywhere are from one persons cultivar. Discovered by John Bartram in 1765, he and his brother saved it from extinction for all of us to enjoy today. They get very tall but we keep our few cut back to 6 feet. It gives us flowers in fall when most things are dying back. It is a pleasure to have them in our gardens.

I like to expose others to some of the more odd and rare things that we keep. You can learn more about these trees by googling Bartram Gardens. It is very near where PhilaGardener lives. It's a small little known simple gardens open to the public. It is not far from Longwood Gardens.

Yes "so lucky", they are sort of rare and no "baymule" they have no smell and can be a tree or a shrub depending on how you trim it. But they have beauty for your garden and eyes and we can help them continue by adding them to our gardens.