Sycoparrotia semidecidua Purple Haze

Sycoparrotia semidecidua ‘Purple Haze’ belongs, like its two parents, to the Hamamelidaceae family. Less well-known than the deciduous Parrotia persisca, native to Northern Iran and Eastern Caucasus, its second parent, Sycopsis sinensis, native to the Chinese mountains, has the advantage of having evergreen foliage. The result of this marriage, discovered and described for the first time in Switzerland in 1968, is a large bush reaching 3 to 4 m (10 to 13ft) in height and 4 to 6 m (13 to 20ft) in width, with foliage and habit that exhibit intermediate characteristics between those of their two parents. With a narrow and upright habit when young, over time the bush develops a broadly ovate and very dense crown. Its foliage is deciduous below -10°C and its growth is moderately fast.

Sycoparrotia semidecidua ‘Purple Haze’ has a stout trunk and often spontaneously forms several trunks covered with a brown-grey bark. Its leaves, arranged alternately on the branches, are simple, elliptical to oblong, entire or toothed at the edges, shiny dark green on top and paler underneath. Dark red in spring, the leaves become dark green during the summer. Then autumn arrives, bringing an explosion of colours: the leaves of Sycoparrotia semidecidua ‘Purple Haze’ turn in succession from purple to scarlet red before becoming golden yellow. Finally, when winter arrives, it takes on violet hues. The flowering, devoid of fragrance, takes place in February-March, in the axils of the leaves, in the form of discreet, slightly red flowers arranged in clusters. Each flower is composed of yellow-green anthers surrounded by small violet-brown bracts. The fruit of this bush is a capsule.

Sycoparrotia semidecidua ‘Purple Haze’ finds its place naturally in a small garden, in an informal hedge or a shrub grove. Combine with e.g. heathers, camellias, Hamamelis, Leucothoe, and pieris in acidic soil. In neutral or slightly alkaline, well-drained soil, you can pair it with the 'Grace' smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria 'Grace'), the caramel tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum), the winged spindle tree (Euonymus alatus), Nandina, tall autumn asters, and Japanese anemones to create a vibrant grove from September to November.