You rarely see the Chinese fringe tree (or its American counterpart) planted in gardens and it is due to the fact that their are quite difficult to propagate so are rarely offered or asked for!
This is a true shame as it is a hardy and stunning late spring flowering small tree ideal for a suburban garden or in fact a country one.
It grows to about 4metres or so and its lovely blooms can almost disguise the foliage when in flower. After flowering it will usually produce blue- black berries and in autumn the leaves turn a very attractive shade of yellow. Almost any well drained sunny site should suit and it will grow at a respectable rate.
The North American species C. virginiana is similar but with substantially larger leaves so perhaps you could plant both and hold the national collection!
The Asian one I have in 20cm. pots at $52.00 and the American one in 15cm. pots at $29.50 so hop to it.
