Grancy Graybeards are considered large shrubs or small trees reaching around 20 feet tall. Their stature allows them to be used as stand-alone specimens or as accent pieces in your landscaping.

It's hard to believe that a spring blooming tree can be native and so passionately loved from the Gulf Coast all the way to Pennsylvania and New York. This is precisely how everyone feels for the Grancy Graybeard.

Perhaps you don't know it by that name. It might be Old Man's Beard or white fringe tree in your area. They are in glorious bloom now in the lower South and as spring arrives will be bring joy throughout the rest of the states.

Botanically speaking Grancy Graybeard is known as Chionanthus virginicus. The name Chionanthus comes from Greek words meaning snow flower.

It is considered a large shrub or small tree reaching around 20 feet tall. It often develops a multi-trunk that certainly makes it among the more picturesque trees in the spring landscape.

Its stature allows it to be used as a stand-alone specimen or as an accent, but to combine it in a bed with other spring bloomers is like developing a fine piece of artwork.

In the South, the unparalleled beauty is created when it is combined with Southern Indica azaleas like Pride of Mobile, Formosa or George Lindley Tabor. But it would also work with the incredibly colorful Hershey's Red or some of the native fiery orange selections. In the North, gardeners might choose rhododendrons.

Why all the hoopla over a native you might ask? The glistening white fringe-like flowers are produced by the thousands. When you see it backlit by the sun or even hit by nighttime landscape lighting it literally takes your breath away.

But that's not all. It's native remember; the small blue fruits formed in summer are relished by birds. The large oval leaves add another landscape attribute by turning yellow in the fall.

Now, should you be sold on the tree, here is the downside. They are not available in huge quantities. Garden centers do their part to have them on hand every spring. But they usually don't have enough to meet demand. So, if this sounds like a tree that you would like to have, go early this season to your garden center.

When you get your tree, be sure to plant it right. Choose a site in full sun to partial shade and plant in moist, fertile soil that is well drained. Dig your planting hole twice as large as the rootball, but no deeper. The rootball's top should be even with the soil line.

If by some chance you find one available later in the summer, build a 4-inch berm outside the rootball area. The berm should be able to hold five gallons of water. After planting, water deeply and apply mulch. Remove the berm after the first year.

Once you have a Grancy Graybeard in the ground, feed it in late winter with an application of a balanced fertilizer, like an 8-8-8, at a rate of one pound per 100 square feet of planted area (the area from the trunk to just outside the canopy of the tree).

It's great when one of the prettiest trees in the spring landscape is a native.

Let's do our part to plant more of them.