Davidia involucrata 'COLUMNA' dove tree
Davidia
The dove tree remembers a world long before the last Ice Age and yet has survived to the present day. During the Tertiary period, the climate of the Northern Hemisphere was warmer and forests looked very different from those we know today; with the onset of the Ice Ages, however, the dove tree disappeared from both the European and North American landscapes. For many decades it was known only by fossil remains, and botanists considered it extinct. A turning point came in 1869, when the French missionary and naturalist Armand David discovered living specimens in the mountain forests of Sichuan Province in western China. The discovery caused a sensation in the botanical world: a tree believed to have been lost forever was found alive. The first “export” followed in 1896, when the missionary Paul Farges sent seeds to France. A few took root, but far greater success was achieved by the legendary plant collector Ernest Henry Wilson, whose seeds collected between 1900 and 1904 and brought to Great Britain germinated readily, growing into strong trees that later proved capable of flowering. And here it is fair to say that dove tree, still a sought-after botanical rarity, teaches us patience: when grown from seed, it usually begins to flower only after 10 to 20 years, which is why breeders strive to develop cultivars with an earlier onset of flowering.
Columna is a columnar‑growing cultivar of the dove tree, valued above all for its compact and restrained habit. A second advantage, perhaps even more appealing, is its ability to flower at a relatively young age. Plants about 1.5 m tall- grafted specimens approximately five to seven years old – already produce their first flowers. Botanically, the inflorescence consists of a rounded central head made up of green florets with wine‑red stamens, surrounded by conspicuous, creamy white bracts of varying size, which have given Davidia the nickname “handkerchief tree” in many languages. And because a pair of white bracts can also resemble two doves facing one another, the English name dove tree has become established. The leaves are broadly ovate to heart‑shaped, with a distinctly serrated margin, deep green in colour, and in autumn many plants turn rich golden to scarlet and even carmine red shades, adding further ornamental value.
The cultivar ‘Columna’ is the result of many years of breeding work by Roberto Gheri at the Italian nursery Gheri Vivai Piante (now defunct). His aim was to develop a smaller, more compact and early‑flowering form of this exceptional tree, so that Davidia could be enjoyed by growers with gardens of more modest size, not only in parks and arboreta where it had most often been seen until then. In the case of ‘Columna’, these aims have been successfully achieved.
The dove tree does not like extremes. In the wild it grows in montane mixed forests of western and south-western China (roughly 1100-2600 m above sea level), so the ideal site is sheltered from drying winds and receives plenty of light — preferably full sun to partial shade (in warmer locations it benefits from afternoon shade). Soil should be deep, fertile, humus-rich, consistently slightly moist but well drained. Summer drought reduces leaf size and the bracts around the flowers, prevents autumn colour and can make the tree “age” within a single season; conversely, permanently waterlogged soil is an invitation to problems. Soil pH is not critical, but the best autumn colour has been observed on acidic soils. Hardiness is most often given as down to −23 °C, but we have found that in a sheltered position a tree with mature wood can tolerate short-term dips to around −27 °C, provided there are no black frosts.
Last update 22-02-2012; 17-01-2026
