That certainly sounds pretty big already. I planted mine when it was quite small - 3' or less. It was a shrub form and I pruned out the weaker stems right away to make a single trunk form. That pruning certainly didn't slow it down any, but I wouldn't have done that if it had been a larger plant to begin with. I wanted it to be a small tree but to also fill in a relatively large space, so I've left it to branch quite low down - it only has 3-4' of clear trunk. That means I have to keep lopping off bits of branches to keep a path clear. I lop off any bits that start blocking the path any time during the growing season. It seem to be a very tough plant because it's not bothered at all by my erratic pruning! It's one of our favorite plants because it makes a beautiful show in September just as the Monarch butterflies are gathering for migration and the tree is a butterfly magnet! I miss my garden in winter so I welcomed this thread as a reason to look at our pictures of this beautiful tree in our garden. I'll bore you with a few pictures :-) This is a picture from 2009 - it's a bigger tree now but this is still one of our favorite views of it: Bejeweled with Monarchs: Such a beautiful tree...!! I'm sure yours won't disappoint and, in your zone, you should get the pink display after the flowers fade - the growing season here is too short for that, but it's still well worth growing here.

I planted mine as a 1 gallon plant, which was about 2' tall. It shot up to about 14' within 2 years and it's planted in clay soil. I did water mine regularly for the first year, but other than that I didn't do anything special for it. It seems to be a very tough plant well adapted to my location and needs no extra watering or other attention from me so far. Mine is now around 20' tall and it was absolutely smothered in butterflies for 2 weeks back in early September when it was in peak flowering. The fragrance has been subtle, but very pleasant when I was within about 30' or so of it. The peeling bark didn't really start to be showy on my tree until it was about 3 or 4 years old. I'd say this plant naturally(at least in Eastern North America) wants to be a small tree, rather than a shrub. Mine put up 2 primary trunks, along with a couple of other smaller ones, which I pruned out after the 3rd year. So, I'd say let yours grow however it wants to and after a couple of years pick out the strongest 2 or 3 trunks and trim out the others. You can also limb it up after it gets some height if you want to really make it look tree like and show off the peeling bark.

whaas; Of those you've listed I only have the Heptacodium(seven son). In fact I have 5. Three are mere babies, 2-4', and the fourth one is probably just shy of or at 10'. I'm growing all as trees with 2-3 main trunks. Of all my plants (hydrangeas, sumacs, viburnums, wiegelas, kalmia, pieris, and more)this is by far my favorite and if I ever had to move they would go with me. Mine are planted in sandy loam that is very slightly acidic (almost neutral), receive almost ALL day sun, get NO wind protection to speak of and are watered fairly often. The only reason I water fairly often is because I have lots of hosta planted amongst my shrubs in full sun. Then there are the white flowers, very prolific and a sweet light fragrance. Plus the bonus of the calyxes. Some call them red, I think their more of a watermelon color. My bees and butterflies love it. My 10' one was planted last year at 6' of height. It had two main trunks that were about the size of a broom stick, 12 months later they are now about the size of the thick part of a baseball bat. Even at the small broom stick size the peeling bark was really interesting and looked good in the winter. (side note... all four had over 8' of snow on them all last winter). They grow rather quickly and so far appear to be my most care free plant I have. Sorry I can't give any info on the others you are looking at. Though I would also be interested in hearing about the Katsura as that is one I am also interested in. Alexis

I have 3 6-year old trees in Beach Park, IL Zone 5a. They have not suckered yet, but they are about 12 feet tall(planted them when they were about 8 ins tall). They are fast growers, and they do flower for me. Some years, I find a little die back at the tips. When they are younger, the branches grow at wierd angles and I have to prune them yearly to shape them to look like a tree. Now that the growing pain is over, they looke more tree like and easier to manage.