This very special and unusual tree is known as the ‘pocket handkerchief’ tree or ‘dove’ tree because in spring it produces delicate flowers resembling small pom-poms, each one surrounded by a pair of long, silky, white bracts.

When viewed from a distance, these give the appearance of white handkerchiefs hanging down or white doves fluttering their wings. Two small trees were planted at Harewood in the early 2000s. These have since grown large, and reliably produce masses of flowers in May.

First described by French Priest and naturalist Father Armand David on a trip to China in 1868, the introduction of the ‘handkerchief tree’ to Britain some three decades later was to become the first and among the most perilous assignments undertaken by the English plant-hunter, Ernest Henry Wilson, who became famously known as ‘Chinese’ Wilson, because of his many epic adventures in China collecting plants.