Dombeya pulchra - Wild White Pear - 15 Seeds

Fragrant and delightful!
 
Dombeya pulchra, commonly known as the Silver White or Wild White Pear is a beautiful shrub or small tree ideal for the wooded or semi-shaded areas of your garden and occurs naturally in South Africa.  It is a very showy ornamental that produces copious bunches of lightly scented white flowers with a cerise centre for month or more in the spring.  Individual flowers to 2.5cm are produced in multi-flowered heads and because of their form Dombeyas are sometimes referred to as Tropical Hydrangea.
 
It grows as a shrub or small tree up to 5m in height depending on growing conditions.  It is multi-stemmed and the slender branches are smooth, wrinkled and often covered with glandular hairs., the velvety leaves n vary in size from 4 to 20cm in diameter, are roundish to roughly triangular with the upper half sometimes lobed.  The tips are pointed, the bases deeply indented and the margins roundly toothed with 5 - 7 prominent veins that arise from the base on the lower surface.  The upper surface of the leaves is green and covered with short, dense hairs, whereas the undersurface is covered in silvery or greyish white, velvety hairs.
 
The velvety buds open into white flowers that often display a deep dark pink centre, turning brown with age.  The flowers are borne on hairy stalks in bunches in the axils of the upper leaves. 
Flowering time is from Summer to late Winter and the fruit that follows is a capsule and is covered with dense, yellowish hairs.  Despite the common name of Wild White Pear this species does not produce edible fruit.
 
Dombeya pulchra is easily raised from seed.  It is fast growing under garden conditions and can be planted out in full sun to light shade and is best in a good fertile loam with an assured summer water supply.  It is tolerant of light frost down to perhaps -2°C.
 
Dombeya pulchra can be grown as a potted plant in a large container for a number of years but performs better in the ground in the long term.
 
This listing is for 15 seeds shipped on receipt of cleared funds.