Gum tree "Variegata" 2.50 - 3.00 m / Liquidambar styraciflua "Variegata" /

Liquidambar styraciflua (Gum Tree) is a tree native to North America. One of the most elegant deciduous trees with a straight trunk covered in well-spaced branches forming an initially regular pyramidal crown, which becomes rounded with age. The bark, green in the first year and then gray, cracks and becomes covered with veins that gradually deepen. The leaves have a long petiole and resemble a maple leaf, with 5 acuminate lobes, slightly jagged, bright green from spring to autumn when they acquire the most beautiful colors, from golden yellow, orange, bright red to purple-burgundy. The flowers are formed at the same time as the leaves, not very visible, neither the male ones (yellow, round, grouped in racemes), nor the female ones which are grouped in short inflorescences. The drooping, round fruits, initially green and then brown when ripe, resemble plane fruits, but are smaller in size. It likes cool, moist, but not boggy soils. It adapts to other types of soil, provided that they are not too dry and very calcareous. The tree can be planted individually or in groups of three, or together with other trees with colored foliage in street alignments or urban spaces. It can also be planted in small gardens as its growth can be controlled by pruning which it resists extremely well. In the first years after planting, the tree develops its root system at the expense of crown growth.

Liquidambar styraciflua "Variegata" (Gum tree "Variegata") is one of the most beautiful varieties of Liquidambar, with pointed leaves that have 5 or 7 lobes each, of a pale-grey green color and sometimes streaked with yellow-silver, tinted with spring pink. Particularly colorful in autumn, when the color difference of the variegation remains during the color change preceding the fall of the leaves, the predominant being different shades of pink and red.

Maximum height: 10 - 12 m

Maximum width: 6 - 8 m

Zone 5 -28.8°C / -23.4°C (minimum temperature resistance).

Growth: moderate.

Location: sun, semi-shade.

Resistance zones for plants in Europe:

Average annual minimum temperatures in °C*

Zone 1 < -45.5°C

Zone 2 -45.5°C / -40.1°C

Zone 3 -40.0°C / -34.5°C

Zone 4 -34.4°C / -28.9°C

Zone 5 -28.8°C / -23.4°C

Zone 6 -23.3°C / -17.8°C

Zone 7 -17.7°C / -12.3°C

Zone 8 -12.2°C / -6.7°C

Zone 9 -6.6°C / -1.2°C

Zone 10 -1.1°C / +4.4°C

Zone 11 > +4.4°C

* Minimum temperatures are an important factor that determines plant resistance (the ability of plants to survive in places where these minimum temperatures can occur).

This principle was created in the early 1960s by the "Department of Agriculture in the United States of America" ​​and was then adapted for Europe by W. Heinz and D. Schreiber.

Based on this principle, Europe was divided into 11 zones.