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Styrax obassia

Styrax obassia

fragrant snowbell

Common name fragrant snowbell

Family styracaceae

Life cycle tree

From seed Give several weeks warm treatment, 2-3 months cold treatment, then germinate at room temperature.
detailed seed-starting info below

Elegant little tree, the U.S. native version of the more commonly grown Japanese snowbell. I grew this from seed in 2001, 2004, and 2009 - in all cases, I got healthy saplings, but they didn't survive in the garden. In most cases the saplings made it through their first winter; the first batch perished in the following summer of drought, while the second batch succumbed to unknown circumstances after a couple of winters, while still in the nursery area. Just recently I got a new sapling from a local nursery, and placed it in our nursery area in hopes of finally coaxing one into a mature tree. I took the photo at top left so that I have proof it was alive in case it perished again – and I was pretty sure it had, until I came across the plant pictured at top right a few years later. Could it be my snowbell? I hope so.

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Visitors to this page have left the following comments

Mary

Jun 04, 2021

I cant get my seeds to germinate- tried a few stratification methods & the seeds were mature. Ideas? I am good at seed collection & germination but this has eluded me!!!! Harvested mature from just down the block tooâ€¦
My best knowledge is on this page, in the detailed seed-starting information: the seeds appear to require a long (3-month) cold stage, after which they will germinate at room temperature. Good luck!

Seed-starting details for this plant

Seed from '01 AHS exchange. Baggy w peat mix 70F (5w) - 35F (6w) - 70F (60%, 8d)
Seed from '04 HPS/MAG exchange. Nick, soak. Baggy w peat mix 70F (4w) - 35F (11w) - pot outside (100%G, 2w - late June)
Seed from HPS/MAG '08/'09 exchange. Nicked (some sandpapered, some filed), baggy with PgX mix 35F (14w) - 70F (60%G, 12-17d)

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