Quackin Grass Nursery

Franklinia alatamaha ‘Wintonbury’ – ​'Wintonbury' is a selection of Ben Franklin Tree made by Mark Sutcliffe in Connecticut with purported added hardiness. It has come through every conceivable winter for us in northeastern CT without problem. It does sometimes want to sprout new stems from the trunk at ground level but we prune them out to keep our specimen a single-trunked tree. Handsome strap-shaped leaves turn deep burgundy in fall while the white ball-shaped buds infused with apple green expand then open to large beautiful completely white bowl-shaped flowers with a central yellow boss – a knockout in the late season garden. Though the autumn color is usually dark burgundy, on November 14, 2009 our tree was a glorious gold with some bright fluorescent red highlights. The beautiful Stewartia-like flowers occur over a period of many weeks. We feel we can state with some authority that Ben Franklin Tree should be planted in fertile draining soil in much sun at the northern end of its range. In the north spring planting is strongly advised. Cutting grown.