Stewartia monadelpha is a lovely small- to medium-sized tree for a woodland garden setting. Its multi-season talents include summertime camellia-like blooms in white, fabulous red fall color, and sinuously smooth bark that looks great year-round. Compared to Stewartia pseudocamellia, its flowers are smaller and understated. Both have the fantastically ornamental bark, though they differ in coloring. The tall stewartia (S. monadelpha) has smooth bark in orangey, cinnamon-brown. The bark of Japanese Stewartia (S. pseudocamellia) is cream-to-gray and has a mottled pattern that resembles camouflage.

Stewartia monadelpha is relatively slow-growing and its form can be a bit gangly in youth. But the wait is definitely worth it. A well-grown, mature specimen will take your breath away (be sure to check out the gallery of photos on this page). Though deserving of space in more gardens, it can be inconsistently available and bit hard to find. And when you find one for sale in a garden center, they're often on the small side. So it can take some patience to get it up to size.