Sonchus arboreus

Description

Sonchus arboreus, the ‘Giant Tree Dandelion’ is a spectacular plant with green deeply lobed leaves, creating a very tropical appearance. Fast growing, it usually forms a mini tree-like shape up to 2-5 metre high in just 2 years. Once mature, flowers are produced in summer, which as its name suggest are just like ‘Dandelions’, only produced en-masse covering the plant.

In the UK the ‘Giant Tree Dandelion’ is not fully hardy and does best in milder gardens. It can be evergreen but is cut back by frost; often dying back to the trunk which if kept free from freezing usually regrows rapidly once the frosts have passed. We’d suggest growing in a container and keeping frost-free during the colder months.