Just wondering what people think of them. Stumbled onto them and on
further searching seems to be a LOT of hype around them.

Wondering about first hand opinions.

I'm in 6B, SW Kentucky, BTW.

"Scott Hildenbrand" wrote in message
.. .
Just wondering what people think of them. Stumbled onto them and on
further searching seems to be a LOT of hype around them.

Wondering about first hand opinions.

I'm in 6B, SW Kentucky, BTW.

Invasive species.

"Scott Hildenbrand" wrote in message
.. .
Just wondering what people think of them. Stumbled onto them and on
further searching seems to be a LOT of hype around them.

Wondering about first hand opinions.

I'm in 6B, SW Kentucky, BTW.

Very close to being declared a noxious weed here abouts. Grows very fast -
fine. Make zillions of seeds - not so fine.

David

"Scott Hildenbrand" wrote in message
.. .
Just wondering what people think of them. Stumbled onto them and on
further searching seems to be a LOT of hype around them.

Wondering about first hand opinions.

I'm in 6B, SW Kentucky, BTW.


I just moved into a new-to-me home that had two of these monsters in the
front lawn- just huge 60+ year old behemoths. It cost a small fortune to
have them taken out, the stumps ground w-a-y down, and new topsoil brought
in. Despite our efforts at eradicating the beasts we are now battling root
shoots from the root fragments- and we had them ground down and out with
very wide margins. The trees are noxious, dirty, and aggravating and I curse
whomever planted them in my yard to start with. Every day for the past few
months I am out there removing root shoots- hundreds of them and more pop up
every day. I keep a hoe on my front porch.

They might be an appropriate species if you have blank acreage that needs
some tall trees pronto, but in 99.9% of situations I would say to just run
the opposite direction of them. Once there they will be next to impossible
to eradicate. Beware.


--
Toni
Hills of Kentucky
USDA Zone 6b
http://www.cearbhaill.com

Buderschnookie wrote:
"Scott Hildenbrand" wrote in message
.. .
Just wondering what people think of them. Stumbled onto them and on
further searching seems to be a LOT of hype around them.

Wondering about first hand opinions.

I'm in 6B, SW Kentucky, BTW.


I just moved into a new-to-me home that had two of these monsters in the
front lawn- just huge 60+ year old behemoths. It cost a small fortune to
have them taken out, the stumps ground w-a-y down, and new topsoil brought
in. Despite our efforts at eradicating the beasts we are now battling root
shoots from the root fragments- and we had them ground down and out with
very wide margins. The trees are noxious, dirty, and aggravating and I curse
whomever planted them in my yard to start with. Every day for the past few
months I am out there removing root shoots- hundreds of them and more pop up
every day. I keep a hoe on my front porch.

They might be an appropriate species if you have blank acreage that needs
some tall trees pronto, but in 99.9% of situations I would say to just run
the opposite direction of them. Once there they will be next to impossible
to eradicate. Beware.



LOL... Ok, so there is an evil behind the hype. That's what I figured.

Shooting off of left over root stalk, reminds me of the Purple Plum we
removed from our old place. It's on our list of hated plants. The dang
thing is STILL putting out new growth even though it's been months since
we cut it out. Luckily not our home anymore so it's not mine to mess
with.

Every summer it'd turn the yard purple with new grown coming up from
root stalk, up to 30' away from the main plant. Mow it down and it
leaves a sharp stick just waiting to skin a bare foot.

This is a good reminder to check more sources than just these sites
where you might find a pretty plant with alot of hype behind it.

Just wondering what people think of them. Stumbled onto them and on
further searching seems to be a LOT of hype around them.

Wondering about first hand opinions.

I'm in 6B, SW Kentucky, BTW.


Horribly invasive, brittle-wooded species. And then there's the 11
million seedlings.

It would probably be more fun and less trouble to take up a hobby like
bailing out the ocean with a teaspoon than dealing with all the seedlings.
Or rolling naked in poison ivy.

Kay, dealing with the aftermath of the former owners' former Paulownia

Kay Lancaster wrote:
Just wondering what people think of them. Stumbled onto them and on
further searching seems to be a LOT of hype around them.

Wondering about first hand opinions.

I'm in 6B, SW Kentucky, BTW.


Horribly invasive, brittle-wooded species. And then there's the 11
million seedlings.

It would probably be more fun and less trouble to take up a hobby like
bailing out the ocean with a teaspoon than dealing with all the seedlings.
Or rolling naked in poison ivy.

Kay, dealing with the aftermath of the former owners' former Paulownia




Sounds almost as fun as Kudzu..

Scott Hildenbrand wrote:
Just wondering what people think of them. Stumbled onto them and on
further searching seems to be a LOT of hype around them.

Wondering about first hand opinions.

I'm in 6B, SW Kentucky, BTW.


I'm glad I asked you all instead of going to other sources. Place I'd
have checked before I thought of you all would be the USDA site.

http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/

But, they don't list this as invasive. Odd..

Invasiveness aside, it's basically a boring, run-of-the-mill, single-season
tree (YMMV).

Speaking of mill, the Japanese prize the wood highly, and many large
commercial growers have made big bucks exporting the wood.

Kay, dealing with the aftermath of the former owners' former Paulownia

Sounds almost as fun as Kudzu..

Yup, also had a nice crop of scotch broom (got that under control), english
ivy (more work needed), poison oak (beaten back) and himalayan blackberry
(needs more work). They also planted willows and irrigated them. Sigh.
Oh, and then there's the deer. Lotsa deer. And the doug firs they let
grow under power lines. Did I mention the rocks?

Shall we have a party? vbg

Now that I've got some of the native species untangled from the weeds,
it's looking better, though.

Kay

Kay Lancaster wrote:
Kay, dealing with the aftermath of the former owners' former Paulownia
Sounds almost as fun as Kudzu..

Yup, also had a nice crop of scotch broom (got that under control), english
ivy (more work needed), poison oak (beaten back) and himalayan blackberry
(needs more work). They also planted willows and irrigated them. Sigh.
Oh, and then there's the deer. Lotsa deer. And the doug firs they let
grow under power lines. Did I mention the rocks?

Shall we have a party? vbg

Now that I've got some of the native species untangled from the weeds,
it's looking better, though.

Kay



I'll take the rocks... Need to do some landscaping..

We did have english ivy by the side entrance.. All over the place. I
think I've got it taken care of except some that's entrenched in the
Monkey grass.

Really we were not too bad off with the problem landscaping of past owners.

Just been reading with curiosity on the Paulownia tree. In the past I have grown alot of these and yes it does depend on the variety. The tomentosa is listed on the invasive species list and it does drop it seeds everywhere. They have lots of names, Princess tree, Kiri tree, empress tree which are all the tomentosa variety. There are several varieties and the elongata is certainly not invasive as I several acres that will be soon harvested for the lumber and have never had a problem with them. Yes they are extremely fast and I have 12"-15" diameter trees right now after 7 years. My acres look so beautiful in springtime with all the flowers which I will miss for a growing season when they are harvested. Hope this helps you a little further. I am certainly not an angry grower of Paulownia. Doing your homework is important.
Jason

http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/
But, they don't list this as invasive. Odd..

It is a few clicks from the home page, but from there you can get to:

http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/pato1.htm

Whether something is invasive depends on the definition of invasive,
your location, and which list you are working from. I'm not really
aware of a master list (although most sources from a given region tend
to agree on which plants are causing the biggest problems for natural
areas).

Great Tree.

Recommend you plant plenty.

Fast growing, very pretty flowers, good shade in the summer.