Persian Ironwood Tree | Parrotia persica ‘Vanessa’
- With its late winter flowers, flaky patchwork bark and stunning autumn foliage colour, ‘Vanessa’ delivers incredible visual interest the whole year round.
- The dainty red blooms are borne on bare branches from the end of winter into early spring, providing a much-needed injection of colour in an otherwise bleak period in the garden calendar.
- A mottled, jigsaw-like appearance to the tree’s skin is redolent of camouflage, or perhaps a snake’s skin. Whatever you think it looks like, I think we can all agree it looks pretty darn splendid.
- However, while the flowers and bark are undoubtedly highy attractive, it’s the foliage that really elevates this tree to the next level. The leaves start out in bronze shades, before maturing to green and then finally, in autumn, taking on an inferno of orange, red and golden hues.
- ‘Vanessa’ is a recipient of the RHS Award of Garden Merit, an accolade bestowed upon those plants shown to perform particularly well in British gardens.
