I have had a Fringe Tree growing since 2000 in my backyard (Marks Park) and it is the best fragrance I have ever experienced. I have bought Gardenia perfume for my wife in the past, which I feel is somewhat similar to the fringe tree. But the fringe tree fragrance is not as heavy as the gardenia, and it is clean, and clear, and fresh smelling. As I saw someone on you tube say, I just want to fall asleep under this tree one day while it blooms.
While the tree I have started out as a multi-trunk bush, it just got larger and leggy to where it seems a mess with branches bending every which way. But I am afraid to prune it as it does not seem to like it much, and the soil on my lot is basically just sand with a small mounded circle of topsoil at the base of the tree. So I try not to kill it by disturbing it too much if possible.
I wish that I could propagate it somehow, but I am not sure how, as it seems to be a male tree without seeds of any kind. I have tried a cutting or two of newer wood (2nd year) that I stuck in some soil with rooting hormone, but that failed. If anyone knows the trick, I would appreciate some info.
Anyway, this tree is my prized possession in the yard, and I believe everyone should have one on their property. I think a preferred location would be just upwind of a patio with afternoon shade and/or within reach of an open bedroom window for best appreciation. Unfortunately for me I have neither of those location suggestions due to not ever experiencing this tree prior to planting one at the suggestion of a nursery. So I suggest to everyone, GET ONE NOW!

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This is a small tree. It grows 10 to 20 feet tall and as wide, and has an open, spreading form with one or several light gray trunks. Fringe Trees erupt into bloom. Individual flowers of inch-long, thin, wavy, white petals form clouds of blooms along the stems. They are sweetly fragrant. Flowering persists for several weeks. Summer leaves are oblong, pointed, 6 inches long or so, and have medium to coarse texture. Fall color is yellow to brown.

Individual Fringe Trees are either male or female. Males may have slightly showier flowers; females, when pollinated by a male, have clusters of blue berries in late summer.

Fringe Tree grows wild in various habitats in the southeast: moist woods, dry rocky slopes, and sandy stream banks, but usually on basic soils. To best grow this small tree, give it sun or part shade and moist, fertile soil.

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A most lovely small tree that can be a large shrub in the North. Native range from southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania down into central Florida to east Texas to southern Missouri to southern Ohio. The leaves are dark green and 4 to 8 inches long and to 4 inches wide with smooth or wavy margins. and turn yellow in the fall. The white flowers are in drooping pyramidal spikes about 4 to 8 inches long with new leaves in the May to early June range, blooming about 7 to 10 days and slightly fragrant. The female trees bear blue-black oval grape-like berries with each about 1 inch long. The bark is brown-gray and smooth a long time, eventually becoming more brown with thick flaky scales. In nature it is slow growing of about 4 to 6 inches/year growing in upland slopes and ravines, ledges, and ridges. In landscapes it can grow about 1 foot/year in the richer soil, and it lives 50 to 150 years. Moist, rich, slightly acidic soil is best . It is offered by some larger, diverse nurseries and by some native plant and specialty nurseries. A few nurseries as Hinsdale Nurseries and Possibility Place sell some in the Chicago, IL region, but I've only seen one shrubby specimen planted there at Cantigny Gardens in the 1980's. A wonderful plant that is infrequently planted, as most people don't know it. Most likely to be seen in professional landscapes of estates, parks, around public buildings, campuses, and such by landscape architects and designers.

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Birds and other wildlife enjoy the berries of the Fringe Tree (Chionanthus virginicus).

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