Brachychiton Species, Lacebark, White Kurrajong

My parents' next door neighbor has theses planted on the border of his property and theirs in Elfin Forest, CA. The trees are about 20 y...Read Moreears old now.

The trees are always nice looking. They have capped out in height at about 20 feet. They are all of uniform height, however the ones that receive water underground from my parents' leech field have grown to a pretty large diameter trunk. So please note that the more water you give them the bigger the diameter of the trunk you will get. I think the largest one is about 5 feet in diameter.

We had seeds fall in our yard and started rooting in very sandy but loose dirt. We then transplanted them to pots and they have remained about 2-3 feet tall while in the pots (about 5-6 years old now). Whenever we forget to water them for more than a few days they lose all their leaves but quickly grow new ones once we start watering them again.

A beautiful tree that here in the Rio Grande Valley stays green all year around tough it does drop leaves in the Spring. I bought mine 1...Read More2 years ago at a foot and a half high for $4.99. Now it is mid-Spring 2013 and it has bloomed for the first time rather sporadically. Hopefully each year to come it will bloom denser.

Though this is a rainforest tree from eastern Australia, it does very well in a mediterranean relatively dry climate. It is closely rela...Read Moreted to the bottle tree and flame tree that also do well here in Southern California. All other Brachychitons excell here, though B australis is a bit touchy with cold and overwatering.

This tree is known for its showy pink flowers and stout, tapering trunk. It flowers in So Cal in the early to mid summer when most of the leaves have fallen off. So it is deciduous in the warm season. Some marginal areas force it to lose its leaves in the fall, too. The leaves are large and deeply divided with smooth angles.

Germination is very straightforward, but getting the seeds out of the pods can be a challenge. If you are lucky enough to grab a pot before the squirrels have raided it, then use gloves or some other protection as the yellow, stiff hairs inside the pod surrounding the 1cm oval brown seeds are extremely hard to get out of your fingers once they have burrowed in. This is also true for several other species, such as acerfolia and bidwilli. Ouch!

Once germinated, the little trees do well even if full, hot sun but seem to need a lot of water for the first few months. Then they become surprisingly drought tolerant. It's a fairly fast growing tree.