Rhus, Staghorn Sumac, Velvet Sumac 'Tiger Eyes'

No doubt about it, this is a beautiful shrub/tree and the foliage is very attractive.
However, if you are tempted to buy it, try...Read More growing in a very strong metal container. Even then, the roots will find their way through the holes in the bottom if the container stands on a lawn or anywhere where there is soil. Personally, I would stand it on concrete.
As others have said, those roots will spread and cause havoc unless controlled.

Planted this last year in an underground pot to try to keep it in check in two different locations. This spring there were sprouts every...Read Morewhere. The roots climbed out of the pots and spread everywhere. I pulled and pulled roots from everywhere.
Please heed the warning. They are very Beautiful. But be smart and plant where it can spread. Not in landscape or border garden. Lesson learned.

With beautiful chartreuse color on a lacy dissected leaf, this is the most exciting staghorn sumac cultivar, interesting and beautiful al...Read Morel season, with excellent orange-to-red fall color. Like all staghorn sumacs, its winter appearance is coarse.

Staghorn sumac is by nature multitrunked. It suckers from wide-spreading roots to form large clumps many yards across---much like a running bamboo. It's not a plant for a small residential yard or garden, unless you confine the roots or enjoy the never-ending job of pulling out sumac suckers. It does not mix well with other shrubs or perennials in a border or foundation planting.

Its spread can be arrested by a metal or heavy plastic root barrier a foot deep. This will have a dwarfing effect. Eventually the colony will decline, the soil will need renewal, and some suckers will need replanting.

It's a tough plant, tolerant of drought, poor soil, and pollution, that's excellent for highway medians and banks and other large sunny spaces. In a large lawn or campus setting, a clump can be controlled like bamboo by mowing around it.

A senescent clump can be renewed by bravely cutting down every trunk in early spring. Be forewarned: new suckers will spring up densely from every root, which may extend further than you realize.

In late summer to early fall, the leaves are the first to turn---a fiery orange-to-red.

In the garden, it can be aggressive, but it is not invasive in natural areas, and it appears on no state invasive plant or noxious weed list.

Tiger Eyes TM is a trademark. The cultivar name is 'Bailtiger'.

Just planted one of these in my border near the alley, next to a patch of goutweed. I have heard varying opinions about the sumac being ...Read Moreinvasive; if it is, I am hoping that the two species fighting it out will keep each other in check. This is because I removed a lot of ditch lilies from that area last year, and the goutweed spread more than it ever had in the previous 20 years, so I figured the two aggressive species had been controlling each other. We'll see what happens. I do hope it works, because the Tiger Eyes sumac is very pretty.

It looked great the first year. The next year the leader branch died during the winter. Worst of all was the aggressive rooting of this p...Read Morelant. It ran and ran and ran. I have to remove ALL of it.

Have planted in a 4'x4'x3' high raised bed made of PT 4x4s. Surrounded with June bearing strawberries. No issues with suckering. Looks be...Read Moreautiful with the dark green strawb leaves.

My instinct when I first bought it was to avoid it but I feel in love with the looks. Unfortunately for me, I have limited places to put...Read More it due to deer destroying it. It outgrew two different places I planted it. The second time I moved it, the remaining roots started suckering like mad. I now constantly pulling up new plants that spring up 6-9 inches overnight. It sent roots under my sidewalk even. It is such a hassle I would never plant it again. If someone decides to plant it, do not put it in a flower bed with other plants and don't put it near a house or walkway. If you have deer, don't bother.

I have seen Tiger Eyes Sumac growing in planters and they are beautiful. I love the color and the way they grow. I just bought one and wa...Read Mores assured they do not succor, but my research today proves otherwise. Mine is in a large pot. I have contained other plants by cutting off the bottom of the pot, leaving the sides around the root ball and planting the tree in the pot to force the roots downward. Do you think this would keep mine from succoring?

After 3 years of loving the look of this plant, we've just torn it out of the garden. The roots, and plantlets along the way, went 10 fe...Read Moreet in all directions. Yes, easy to pull up but it certainly did damage. We had it on the edge of a garden in suburbia and it extended into our neighbors' lawn and bed. We were unable to try to contain it (like a bamboo) because of our garden limitations- but that certainly seems worth a try. My personal choice - no plant is worth the worry, work and problems of invasiveness. Sorry to be so negative to all of you who REALLY want this plant. Good luck.

Beautiful and fast growing! Has put on alot of new growth since planted earlier in the season.

I agree that this is a visually stunning plant. But it has become invasive in my garden. Fortunately, the suckers are fairly easy to pull...Read More up but they take other neighboring plants with them.

Lovely bush. It sends out sucker shoots up to two feet away from the main stem. These little shoots can be dug up and replanted elsewhere...Read More. Cutting the root from the main bush will cause them to wilt when transplanted, but the little shoots soon perk up and begin to grow on their own.

This plant is now after 2 years of spectacular spring chartreuse to vairgated orange/green summer to the most spectacular long lasting fa...Read Morell colors of yellow to orange.

I love this new cultivar, the colors are unreal and look good with everything from pastels to orange to bright red. It has steadly grown ...Read Moresince planted, with a sucker coming up a few inches from the one stem.

New growth starts out a gorgeous lime green turning to yellow.
Leaf stems are a fuzzy pink-rosy purple which adds a nice contrast....Read More
In fall the leafs turn an intense red, orange & yellow.
Will drop some leaf stems in late fall.