Halesia

Description
Scientific Names: Halesia
Common Names: Silverbell
Plant Type: Small to large deciduous tree.
Height: 20-40 feet can form, but be much larger mountain.
Native Habitat: Halesia grows mostly in the mountains. Growth is best in moist, fertile, well-drained, slightly acidic soils with lots of organic matter. Plants prefer full sun or partial shade on cool, sheltered sites. Halesia transplants well as balled and burlapped or container-grown stock. It can be propagated by seed, root and greenwood cuttings and air layering.
Native Range: Halesia grows mostly in the Piedmont and mountains of the Carolinas, eastern Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. It's distribution extends beyond this central area in small populations scattered over the southeastern Coastal Plain, western Virginia, West Virginia, southern Ohio, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, western Kentucky, Tennessee, central Arkansas, and southeastern Oklahoma. Halesia grows in moist soils along streams in the understory of hardwood forests.
Cultivation: Halesia can burn sensitive to drought and fertilizer. Give it a moist loamy soil with good drainage, and go light on fertilizer. A mulch can help preserve moisture during dry periods. Direct sunlight increases the flower, but too much sun can cause stress in hot, dry climates. The system can be several strains or trying to grow as a shrub, but can be trained usually in the form of a tree. Seeds need both warm and cold stratification and can be difficult to work with.
Conservation Status: Native to Kentucky. Silverbell is ranked as a plant of conservation concern (threatened) by the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission.
Related Species:

• Halesia diptera
• Halesia macgregorii
• Halesia monticola
• Halesia parviflora
• Halesia tetraptera

Flowering Time: April-May.

Halesia was named for the Reverend Stephen Hale (1677-1761), a physiologist and author of Vegetable Staticks (1727). The species is found in scattered populations over much of the eastern United States, as far north as West Virginia, south to northern Florida, and west to Oklahoma. But it is thinly distributed over much of its native range, and is becoming rare in many areas. Some botanists treat Halesia monticola as a variety of Halesia tetraptera. This taxon is much larger, up to 20-40 feet tall, with larger leaves up to 20 cm long and flowers up to 3 cm long. It is cultivated as an ornamental tree.

In the landscape, this Silverbell functions more as a huge low-branched shrub with several trunks, forming an open, transparent structure almost as wide as it is tall. Its mature bark is strikingly veined in gray and black, and its pest- and disease-resistant leaves are pleasantly oval. Come winter, its showy, Four-winged fruits (hence the name Halesia tetraptera) dangle like deflated punching bags, and are often fodder for birds. But for ten days in spring, the Silverbell is no less than a benediction for humanity, with white, breathless bells that hang on angel hair-thin stalks and seem to enlighten anyone or anything beneath them.

Uses
Attractive, small tree or large shrub for the shrub border or woodland garden. Interesting design for the lawn. Grows well with rhododendrons and azaleas. Usually used as a flowering tree.