Stewartia ovata – Mountain Stewartia

The most winter-hardy of the Stewartias – Zone 5 – it will do well in our valleys but could be a risk at higher elevations of the Catskills. In the Tea family, this small tree is related to Camellias and is sometimes called Mountain Camellia. Flowers have five wrinkled petals with a crisped rim – their substance and form are beautiful. They bloom a few at a time so the plant is never covered in blooms, but this is still an aristocratic plant and rarely available. All of our plants are grown from seed produced by two trees that we obtained from Lower Marlboro Nursery in Maryland 20+ years ago. They have proven slow-growing but quite winter hardy.