Elaeocarpus decipiens

Elaeocarpus decipiens (Japanese Blueberry Tree) is an evergreen tree with green leaves that turn bright red "fall color".  If you are looking for a FAST growing evergreen tree that is also a FANTASTIC necar source for bees, then this is the tree!  Elaeocarpus decipiens is an extremely fast growing evergreen tree (several feet per year in good conditions) the long, narrow green leaves and a massive amount of small, insignificant flowers that bees and other pollinators go totally crazy for!  A couple of years ago I was walking our desplay garden and heard what I assumed was a swarm of bees passing by overhead, but I could see them.  Puzzled, I continued to walk and over 500 feet from where I first heard the buzzing was Elaeocarpus decipiens covered with many thousands of bees, bumblebees, small wasps, etc.  The buzzing was so loud I heard it from 500 feet away!  Elaeocarpus decipiens is hands down the most pollinator insect visited tree in our entire collection!  There is an added bonus with Elaeocarpus decipiens - like all evergreen trees, it still drops its older leaves (but new leaves are already there, so totally evergreen) in the spring and again later summer.  The dropping leaves turn brilliant red (rivals any maple tree in the fall) and sheds only the interior leaves - giving the appearance of a bright red christmas tree inside a bright green tree!  Totally stunning.  Our Elaeocarpus decipiens was planted as a 3 foot tall, 3 gallon plant and 3 years later it was nearly 30 feet tall!  When young, Elaeocarpus decipiens is not as cold hardy as when it gets a few years old and may die back in the single digits the first year or 2.  Below zero will likely hurt the older branches.

• HARDINESS:  zones 7-9
• EXPOSURE:  sun
• SIZE:   30'+ 
• SHIPPING SIZE:  1/2 gallon pot.  20-28” plant.