Images may show mature specimens and are provided as a guide only. As plants are living products, the size, shape and appearance of the stock supplied may vary from the images shown.
Nursery Direct
Chinese Sweet Gum
Liquidambar formosana
Everything is included in this price: the plant, free delivery and professional installation
The price you see is the whole job: the plant supplied, delivered free and professionally installed. Done for you.
Want to see the actual plant?
The photo shows this species, not the individual plant reserved for you. Send us an enquiry and we usually reply within 1 business day with photos of the actual stock available in the size you want.
Request photosHow tall it arrives: 500mm about 2.5 to 3.5m, 100L about 2.5 to 3.5m. Heights vary with species and season. How pot sizes work
Getting it in: the largest size here needs about 900mm to 1.2m of clear access. Measure the narrowest point on the route and tell us on the booking call. Standard access is included in the price, and anything unusual is quoted and agreed with you before work begins. What happens on installation day
Looking for a larger size?
Sizes shown are the sizes we currently source in this species. If you need larger specimens, project quantities or a size not listed, our sourcing team can look for it through our national supplier network. We confirm your exact stock with you on the booking call before anything ships.
Send An EnquiryYou order. We do the rest.
After checkout, our team contacts you to confirm site access and book a day that suits. Most orders are delivered and planted within 2 to 4 weeks of your booking call. Nothing else for you to organise.
Registered Australian business, ABN 33 683 675 603. Public liability certificates available on request.
Product Details
Overview & Specifications
Price includes everything: the plant, free delivery and professional installation by our planting team. One price, whole job done.
Chinese Sweet Gum - Liquidambar formosana
Liquidambar formosana is the east Asian sweet gum, distinguished from the familiar American species by its three-lobed leaves rather than five or seven, and by the bronze to purple-red flush on new spring growth. It builds into a large, broadly conical shade tree with reliable autumn colour running through orange, crimson and deep purple. Choose it over Liquidambar styraciflua where you want the same autumn performance with a distinctly different leaf and a slightly less aggressive habit.
Why Chinese Sweet Gum
Autumn display: Colours strongly and holds late, often into early winter in southern Australia.
Distinctive leaf: The three-lobed, maple-like leaf sets it apart from the more common American sweet gum.
Spring flush: New foliage emerges bronze-purple before turning green, giving two seasons of colour.
Shade quality: A dense summer canopy that drops fully in winter, letting light back into the house.
Structural form: Develops a straight central leader and a symmetrical crown with little intervention.
Ideal Applications
Large lawn specimen: Given open ground it develops the full symmetrical crown it is capable of.
Street and avenue planting: Uniform habit makes it suitable for repeated planting along wide verges.
Deciduous summer shade: Sited to the north or west of a house for summer cooling and winter sun.
Parkland and school grounds: Robust and long lived on open sites with room for root spread.
Specimen & Installation
Spacing (screening/hedge): 5 to 6m in a shelter row
Spacing (feature/avenue): 8 to 10m; keep well clear of drains, paving and footings
Best Planting Season: Winter to early spring while dormant
Soil & Drainage: Deep, moisture-retentive, slightly acidic soil gives the best colour and growth. It tolerates a range of soils but performs poorly in shallow, dry or highly alkaline ground, where the leaves yellow.
Establishment Care: Water deeply once or twice a week through the first three summers, since the tree is intolerant of drought while young. Mulch out to the drip line, formative prune in winter to maintain a single leader, and allow room for surface roots as it matures.
Plant Details
Height: To 15m or more in good soil, though smaller and slower than a seedling liquidambar
Width: 8 to 12m
Growth Rate: Moderate to fast
Foliage: Deciduous
Light: Full sun
Native to: China, Taiwan and Indochina
Flower Colour: Insignificant; followed by spiky spherical seed capsules
Delivery & Installation
Delivery and installation are included in your price
No freight calculators and no separate installation quote for a standard installation. Your price covers specialist plant transport, positioning and professional planting by our installation team. The whole job, handled.
- Wrapped, secured and transported by specialist plant freight.
- Professionally planted, staked and finished by our install team.
- Our team confirms site access and schedules a time that suits you.
Installation
Professional installation included, never extra
Every plant we sell is planted by our professional installation team, and it's already in the price. We coordinate the delivery, the machinery and the planting for standard site access, so your only job is choosing the tree. Unusual access or engineering requirements? We'll confirm everything with you after checkout before any work begins.
Questions? Send An EnquiryWhy Nursery Direct
Every price includes supply, delivery and installation
Buying a mature tree often means three separate jobs: the plant, the freight and finding someone to plant it. We price the whole job as one: the tree, the delivery and the professional install.
- One price: supplied, delivered and installed
- Mature trees and specimen palms at every scale
- National sourcing for hard-to-find stock
- Residential, estate and commercial projects
How It Works
Place your order. We do the rest.
We Supply
Premium advanced stock, selected from a national network of wholesale growers.
We Deliver
Specialist plant freight brings your order to your door. Free, anywhere in Australia.
We Install
Our professional team plants, stakes, mulches and finishes the job on site.







