This
is one of those all around non-native good asian trees that has pervaded the
nursery industry, in the south, because it is so easy to grow and it grows under
so many conditions. It is like the lilac in the midwest, or the Eucalytus tree
on the west coast. It resembles these trees in that it is breed for color and
size, with hundreds of cultivars. Its one great need is sun, full sun for great
flower production. One of the myths is that it needs to be pruned severly into
a witches broom in order to flower profusely the next year. This is not true
it is a maintenance make work idea that is melded with a Mexican immigrant notion
that all trees need to be pollarded to flower. If yo go to Mexico you will see
huge trees that have all the main scaffolding branches cut every 5 to ten years.
This idea is a European firewood harvesting technique that doesn't have much
practical use since we do not use a lot of firewood in our urban environment.
