Other Names:  Variegated Handkerchief Tree, Ghost Tree

Description:

This spectacular selection features amazing variegated foliage in tones of green, creamy yellow and white; bold and beautiful throughout the growing season; benefits from some shade; primarily grown for attractive foliage, 15 to 20 years to flower

Ornamental Features

Lady Sunshine Variegated Dove Tree features showy clusters of red flowers with white bracts at the ends of the branches in mid spring. It has attractive dark green foliage edged in buttery yellow with hints of creamy white which emerges lime green in spring. The serrated heart-shaped leaves are highly ornamental but do not develop any appreciable fall color. It produces brown nuts in mid summer. The peeling brown bark is extremely showy and adds significant winter interest.

Landscape Attributes

Lady Sunshine Variegated Dove Tree is a deciduous tree with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance tree, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Lady Sunshine Variegated Dove Tree is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Shade
• Vertical Accent
• Hedges/Screening

Planting & Growing

Lady Sunshine Variegated Dove Tree will grow to be about 25 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 15 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 4 feet from the ground, and should not be planted underneath power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 80 years or more.

This tree should be grown in a location with partial shade or which is shaded from the hot afternoon sun. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.