Category: Tree
Family: Cercidiphylluceae
Genus: Cercidiphyllum
species: japonicum
Cultivar: 'Amazing Grace'
Origin:
Size: 15 (min) to 25 (max)
Size Description: small weeping tree
Notes:
PlantPlaces.com Plant of the Week: October 7, 2012
Cercidiphyllum japonicum ‘Amazing Grace’ – Amazing Grace Weeping Katsura
by: Steve Foltz
This week I was at Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum. Of all the trees that I see at Spring Grove there is one tree that I especially love to show people. That tree is the magnificent Amazing Grace Weeping Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum ‘Amazing Grace’).

This graceful weeping tree is one of the most underused plants in our region. The foliage is a bluish-green, 2 to 4 inches long and wide that turn yellow in the fall. There is a unique sweet burnt sugar fragrance that hovers around the plant whenever leaves fall from the tree. Every sensory Garden should have an Amazing Grace Weeping Katsura for this trait alone! The leaves on Amazing Grace Katsura are thicker than the species and other cultivars of Katsura making Amazing Grace Weeping Katsura a little tougher than the others. I think when Amazing Grace Katsura was first named some thought that all weeping Katsura trees were the new cultivar ‘Amazing Grace’. This is certainly not the case so when looking for this tree be sure the nursery knows the parentage of the plants they are selling as ‘Amazing Grace’. There is a more upright weeping Katsura named ‘Morioka Weeping’. This too is a fine weeping Katsura but in my opinion has nothing on ‘Amazing Grace’.

The original plant at Spring Grove was donated by Dick Ammon back in the late 70s. Dick received the plant from Theodore Klein, a Kentucky nurseryman from Crestwood, Kentucky. Theodore Klein was the one responsible for propagating and distributing several of the large Amazing Grace weeping Katsura trees we see today.

There are several plants of ‘Amazing Grace’ in the Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Louisville regions. Yew Dell Gardens (the former home of the late Theodore Klein), Cave Hill Cemetery and Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum have specimens of the original plants from the late Theodore Klein. Each of these specimens are over 25’ tall and 35 feet wide after 35 plus years in the ground.

Make a point of visiting one of the beautiful specimens of Amazing Grace Weeping Katsura trees this fall. Visit a smaller but beautiful specimen at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens along the railroad tracks by the Reptile House. Do you know of any other specimens and where they are located? Let us know and we will add them to www.plantplaces.com!

View other PlantPlaces.com Plant of the Week entries here.


Characteristics: Recommended Winter Interest Dry Soil Tolerant

Availability:

Limited Availability

This plant is on the recommended list of: Melissa Benoit Ron Rothhaas Scott Beuerline Andrew Bear Chris Maphet
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