Landscape Plants

• A hybrid semi-evergreen, multi-stemmed shrub or a small tree, may attain a height of 20 ft, occasionally 30 ft (6-9 m). Leaves narrow, lanceolate-elliptic, 10-20 cm long, glossy dark green above and pale green below, margins with small, sharp teeth pointing forward.  Leaves are semi-evergreen; older leaves usually acquire some shades of red and orange in fall. Flowers showy, 13 cm across, cupped or flat, with white petals and large yellow centers, like camellia, mildly sweet fragrance. Blooms from mid-summer to fall.

• Hardy to USDA Zone 7

• A hybrid derived from two species native to the southeastern United States.  It was developed in 2003 from controlled crosses between Franklinia alatamaha (female) and Gordonia lasianthus (male) by Thomas Ranney and Paul Fantz of the Department of Horticultural Science at North Carolina State University.  The goals of the cross were to combine the exceptional cold hardiness of F. alatamaha, reportedly it has survived -38° F, with the evergreen habit of the much less hardy Gordonia lasianthus, and to broaden the genetic base for further breeding of these genera.

• Gordlinia gradiflora 'Sweet Tea' is a polyploid selection, it has extra sets of chromosomes.  Reportedly it is more resistant to the root organism Phytophthora, "but it's still a bit finicky"....."Okay, it’s not the toughest tree on the planet, so give it a good site with well-drained soil and even moisture" (NC State Univ., Extension Gardener).  Nurseries are promoting this selection but published comparisons between the performance of it and Franklinia alatamaha are lacking.

• Gordlinia: the name was derived from the genus names of the parents, Franklinia and Gordonia.  grandiflora: large flowered

Many photos of this plant are available at the North Carolina Extension Gardener Toolbox  SEE https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/x-gordlinia-grandiflora/