On Thu, 7 Aug 2003 23:46:19 +0000 (UTC),
(mel turner) wrote:
Where do you live? That's often relevant to these questions.


On 08 Aug 2003 02:39:52 GMT, (Iris Cohen) wrote:
you neglected to say where you live. That would help.


======================================

Jeeeezzz....

I can't believe I left that out. My original (lengthy) note on this
(before I hacked it apart to a reasonable posting length) had the
following:

---------------------------
The plant looks kind of tropical or sub-tropical, yet it is thriving
like gangbusters here in South Jersey (I live right across the river
from Philadelphia).
---------------------------

I agree it's a critical piece of information, and I embarrassingly
apologize. ;-)
BTW, I'm trying to set up web space, and then I'm going to try
posting pix of this beast so you can see it.
I think the Paulownia is right, but all the refs I've found ONLY
have 2 opposing leaves as opposed to my triplets. Some of the images
show a tall, single trunked plant like mine, but the majority dwell on
the Princess/Empress Tree, which looks like a regular tree. Also, I'm
a bit confused over which tree is "P. Tomentosa" because some sites
seem to be describing different trees with the same term. Also, in
general, the sites seem to say that the tall skinny P. is commercially
viable, while the Princess/Empress tree is not. Finally, some sites
say the plant is easily propagated while others say it is not.
Hmm..

"And one more thing.." (as Jackie Chan's grandfather likes to say on
the cartoon):
Mel, you mentioned the remote similarity to a catalpa. Very
funny...that just happens to be my OTHER "pest plant" that grows on
the other side of my house! ;-)
Our "bean tree" (although we've never let it grow to fruition) is
also a fast grower and virtually indestructible. Unlike the other
plant, Catalpas are quite abundant around here, mostly domestic, but
also many in the wild. Where they can, they grow fairly large, about
30 feet and nicely spread.
We keep hacking it back to a stub, and it keeps coming right back.A
couple of years ago I actually tried digging the root out, and I got a
doublefisted sized knot with some heavy tendrils out and thought that
would do the job. It didn't. ;-(

Anyway, thank you all for your help so far, and I'll be back for more.
As ugly as this plant (the paulownia) is, it's agressiveness is
utterly fascinating to me, moreso because I wonder how such an
aggressive tree could possibly be so uncommon????