Tree Shrike ∗ The 10 best planting and care tips

Characteristics

• Scientific name: Celastrus orbiculatus
• Family: Spindle family (Celastraceae)
• Synonym: round-leaved tree shrike
• Origin: East Asia
• Growth type: deciduous climbing shrub
• Growth height: 8 m to 12 m
• leaf: rounded to elliptical
• Flower: inconspicuous
• Fruit: capsule
• Toxicity: non-toxic
• Hardiness: hardy
• Use: facade greening, privacy screen, ground cover

growth

Tree Shrike is a deciduous, woody climber of the spindle tree family (Celastraceae). Celastrus orbiculatus is native to the temperate zone of East Asia, where it is widespread in mixed forests and thickets. With its twining tendrils, the climbing shrub teaches the trees to fear by mercilessly putting them in a headlock and squeezing off their lifeblood. In this country, the tree shrike is valued as an ornamental plant thanks to these growth properties:

• growth habit: left-twining, deciduous climber with golden-yellow autumn colors and bright yellow-orange fruits.
• growth height: 800cm to 1200cm.
• growth width: 400cm to 800cm.
• growth rate: 30 cm to 150 cm annual growth.
• root: Shallow roots
• branches: stalk round, initially herbaceous green, later with brown to grey-brown bark and inconspicuous cork pores.
• Horticulturally interesting properties: decorative surface greener (horizontal and vertical), easy to care for, tolerates pruning, hardy, dioecious, non-toxic, friendly to bees.

Short portrait of a tree shrike

Sheet

For most of the year, an opaque robe of leaves covers the woody creepers. Only late in autumn does the hardy round-leaved tree shrike say goodbye to the well-deserved dormancy with a beautiful autumn coloration. You can read about blade characteristics worth knowing here:

• leaf shape: short stalked, broadly oval to ovate, pointed, serrate leaf margin.
• sheet size: 5 cm to 14 cm long, 3 cm to 10 cm wide.
• leaf color: pale green to blue-green glabrous upper and lower surface, rarely with sparse hairs on leaf veins.
• autumn coloring: golden yellow to reddish.
• arrangement: alternate

blossom

Tree-shrike shrubs usually thrive unisexually-dioecious. The individual climbing shrub bears either male or female flowers. Hermaphroditic individuals are rare. A tree shrike reveals its floral sex at the beginning of the first flowering period at the earliest. All important flower characteristics in a nutshell:

• inflorescence: 1 cm to 3 cm long cymes of five-fold greenish to greenish-white single flowers.
• Male single flower: triangular sepals, ovate petals (3-4 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide), stamens short.
• Single female flower: smaller calyx than in males, ovary spherical, style 1.5 mm long, stigma 3-lobed.
• heyday: May to June.

Numerous nectar glands are located in the fleshy base of the flower as a reward for hard-working insects as pollinators. For this reason, round-leaved tree shrike is called bee pasture classified.

fruit

Tree shrike females inspire in autumn with these pretty fruits:

• fruit shape: spherical fruit with 3 compartments and an average of 3 (1-6) seeds.
• fruit size: 8 mm to 14 mm long.
• fruit color: yellow-orange pericarp.
• fruit ripening: July to October.

Ripe tree shrike fruits open up and reveal the 5 mm small seeds in the red aril (seed coat). The decorative fruit shoots are characterized by a long shelf life well into winter. Garden birds appreciate the fruit as a food source. Tree strangler fruits, on the other hand, are inedible for humans.

use

Anyone who takes the martial doings of the tree shrike into account with appropriate precautions will discover numerous possible uses. The following table may inspire the hobby gardener's imagination for creative design ideas with the round-leaved tree shrike:

Tree shrike (Celastrus) and wisteria (Wisteria) are the dream team for magnificent facade greening. Anyone who associates these two shrubs on a stable climbing aid will enjoy the picturesque springtime Wisteria flower and in autumn the tree shrike color spectacle of bright yellow leaves and reddish-yellow fruit decoration.

plant tree shrike

You can buy ready-to-plant tree shrike in a container in tree nurseries almost all year round for a price from 10 euros for a 60 cm specimen. Planting is cheaper after vegetative propagation by offshoots from a generous hobby gardener. The location requirements of the Asian climbing plant are easy to meet. After reading these planting tips, you will be familiar with all the important aspects:

propagation

Vegetative propagation produces a flock of young tree shrike whose sex you know in advance. There are three beginner-friendly methods to choose from:

• lowering: pull down a leafless twig in autumn, score lightly with a razor blade and root in a shallow furrow.
• sticks: in the spring, cut one-year-old shoots into pencil-length pieces with a Eye at each end, stick into the partially shaded propagation bed and allow to root.
• cuttings: 15 cm long, semi-lignified in early summer cuttings cut without buds, defoliate the lower half, place two-thirds in a seed pot with lean soil or plant directly in the bed.

A generative propagation by sowing is possible. However, the question of the floral sex remains a mystery until the first flowering period.

Location

A tree shrike actually grows where the undemanding climbing shrub is planted. Celastrus orbiculatus develops its optimum at this location:

• In a sunny to partially shaded position.
• Preferably with the green head in the sun and a shaded shallow-rooted foot.
• normal garden floor, loose, well-drained, fresh to moist without waterlogging.

The hardy climbing plant can even cope with bitterly cold east winds. Nevertheless, a wind-calmed location is advantageous so that the tendrils do not tear off the climbing aid.

planting tips

You should always plant a tree shrike as a pair of males and females for a colorful display of fruit in autumn. You can read more planting tips worth knowing here:

• The best time to plant tree shrike is in the fall or spring.
• For use as a climbing plant, first mount a resilient climbing aid (tips see excursus).
• Soak the root ball in water first.
• Enrich the excavation of the spacious planting pit with compost or horn shavings.(€9.00 at Amazon*)
• Planting distance: 1.50 m to 4 m

After planting, water the young plants generously. The lower shoots are attached to the struts of the climbing aid in a fan shape.

digression

Climbing aid suitable for tree stranglers - tips

Maintain tree shrike

Tree Shrikes are very low-maintenance shrubs. The demands on the water and nutrient balance are modest. A good-natured cut tolerance and uncomplicated winter storage round off the simple care program. There are rarely complaints about an infestation with diseases and pests. Top care tips for Celastrus orbiculatus telegram style:

Pour

• Water tree shrike penetratingly in dry conditions.
• Run normal tap water directly onto the root disc.
• Creeper not with that garden hose sprinkle (wet leaves are susceptible to powdery mildew).
• mulching or underplant, like clematis, for a shadowed foot.

Fertilize

• Tree Shrikes don't fertilize, so that the fast-growing climbing shrub does not grow rampant.

To cut

• Thin out Celastrus climbing shrubs in February.
• Ideally, cut back overly long shoots after the flowering period.
• Place aged tree shrike on the stick or radically rejuvenate between October and February.
• Extra tip: either use the ground-rooted shoots on the climbing aid or use them as offshoots for propagation.

hibernate

• With a winter hardiness of down to -28° Celsius, no winter protection is required.
• In the year of planting, young tree shrike is grateful for a protective mulch layer of leaves and needle brushwood.

diseases and pests

Warm, humid weather or regular shots from the garden hose bring mildew pathogens onto the scene. Special control agents are not necessary. Cut off affected shoots that you get hold of. A tree shrike gets rid of the remaining infected leaves through the fall of leaves in autumn. Please dispose of all leaves with a floury coating in the organic waste or household waste.

Popular Varieties

Well-stocked tree nurseries save hobby gardeners a lot of guesswork about the plant sex with these tree strangler varieties:

• Diana: female Chinese tree shrike produces yellow-red fruits, light green foliage; with a growth height of 300 cm to 1000 cm, it grows somewhat more slowly than a male tree shrike.
• Hercules: male tree shrike as a pollinator for 'Diana', proliferating climbing shrub up to 12 m in height.
• American tree shrike (Celastrus scandens): oblong-oval, dark green leaves, bright yellow autumn colour, height of growth 500 cm to 800 cm.
• Panicle tree shrike (Celastrus paniculata): evergreen, non-hardy tree shrike species from Australasia.

FAQ

How do I recognize male and female tree shrike?

Tree Shrikes are dioecious, unisexual shrubs. The flowers of a plant are either all female or all male. Female flowers can be recognized by a pistil with a three-lobed stigma. In male flowers, the sepals and petals surround numerous stamens in the flower center. These distinguishing features only become visible when the flowering period begins. Rarely does a tree shrike form hermaphroditic flowers with pistil, stigma and stamens.

Can a tree shrike blow up house walls like ivy?

The tree shrike (Celastrus) cannot damage house walls. In contrast to ivy (Hedera), red-leaved tree shrike and conspecifics do not form any adhesive roots. The shrubs climb up with the help of their left-hand twisting nooses, provided a climbing aid is available. Structural damage occurs when you grow tree shrike along downspouts or gutters. Over the years, the woody tendrils exert massive forces and can easily crush pipes of all kinds.

When is the best time to plant red-leaved tree shrike?

The best time to plant tree shrike is either in autumn or spring. In autumn, the climbing shrub benefits from the residual heat in the garden floor for rapid root growth before the first frost. In March and April, a young tree shrike rarely suffers from biting frost after planting.