There are relatively few summer flowering trees with spectacular flowers. Maackia are another addition to this select band which, although not well known, is well worth growing in any woodland collection.
M. amurensis will grow eventually to around 40ft. Our plant is around 35 years old and still hardly half that height although its spread is around 20ft as well. It has most distinct and attractive brown peeling and flaking bark.
Maackia have much in common with the equally spectacular and also summer flowering cladastris.
The leaves of M. amurensis are 8-12in long and pinnate with seven to eleven leaflets. This creates an attractive effect. The flowers are pure white and appear in July and August in stiff erect racemes of 4-6in in length. Individual flowers are pea shaped and the racemes are often branched at the base.
This tree is a native of Manchuria and totally hardy. It is slow to get going and ours took perhaps 15 years until it first flowered. Now it is one of the highlights of the summer.
We have not, as yet, seen any seed set on our tree but would expect long flattened pea-like pods after a really hot summer.
