Hi,

One of our neighbors have a Paulownia tree in their yard. It grows
phenomenally fast (up to 6 feet per year!) and looks quite beautiful with
all it's flowers and large leaves. My neighbor loves the tree, but on-line
I find all kinds of opinions, many classifying it as a invasive weed. I do
not know what to believe, so I ask he Does anyone have experience with
Paulownia trees? Good or bad, it doesn't matter, I just want to know what
I could expect if I decided to put one of these trees in my yard.

--
//ceed

"escape" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 09 Apr 2005 03:11:36 -0500, ceed
ceed@abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqr stuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com
opined:

Hi,

One of our neighbors have a Paulownia tree in their yard. It grows
phenomenally fast (up to 6 feet per year!) and looks quite beautiful with
all it's flowers and large leaves. My neighbor loves the tree, but on-line
I find all kinds of opinions, many classifying it as a invasive weed. I do
not know what to believe, so I ask he Does anyone have experience with
Paulownia trees? Good or bad, it doesn't matter, I just want to know what
I could expect if I decided to put one of these trees in my yard.

I planted a Paulownia kawakamii three years ago. This is the first year it
bloomed. It was two feet tall when I planted it and now it's at least 25
feet
tall...which is what I wanted. As far as I can tell, the tree is a gem.
There
are other varieties which can become invasive as they spread by seed,
mostly. I
will have to report back after this year drops it's seed.

On the other hand, it is a hardwood and very reliable, renewable resource
in
spite of its rapid growth rate.



Our next door neighbor had three of these..They are huge, and get really big
leaves..They get nice green leaves in the spring along with the orchid like
flowers..The flowers are short lived and turn to mush when they fall off and
when it gets hot the leaves would shrivel up and look terrible..Maybe hers
were not well..The thing I hated about the things is the seed pods were
almost a foot long, and hard and about the diameter of a pencil..They were
impossible to keep out of our pool, and were constantly jamming the pool
sweep..Other than these things, they were pretty till they started to
wilt..And grew really fast..Guess your mileage might vary depending on where
planted and how much water(she seemed to water a lot) and whether you have a
pool nearby...But if your looking for quick shade, might be a good choice...
John

"escape" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 11 Apr 2005 09:50:50 -0500, "John"
opined:

Our next door neighbor had three of these..They are huge, and get really
big
leaves..They get nice green leaves in the spring along with the orchid
like
flowers..The flowers are short lived and turn to mush when they fall off
and
when it gets hot the leaves would shrivel up and look terrible..Maybe hers
were not well..The thing I hated about the things is the seed pods were
almost a foot long, and hard and about the diameter of a pencil..They were
impossible to keep out of our pool, and were constantly jamming the pool
sweep..Other than these things, they were pretty till they started to
wilt..And grew really fast..Guess your mileage might vary depending on
where
planted and how much water(she seemed to water a lot) and whether you have
a
pool nearby...But if your looking for quick shade, might be a good
choice...
John


Mine also wilts in heat, but that's what they do naturally to preserve
moisture.
As soon as evening comes the foliage plumps back up. I planted mine on
the far
corner of the property because they put in a street light which annoys the
shit
out of us when we're in the pool at night. This bright thing in our eyes
is not
my idea of a relaxing evening hot tub/cool pool.

It is a pretty messy tree so I would not recommend it by a pool. I have a
palo
verde right near our pool and it is a huge mess. I love the thing and it
flowers all summer long, but one of these days we are going to take it
out. I'm
waiting for the Mex.fan palm to grow, then it comes down.

V



I don't blame you for wanting to block out that darn street light..Those
things can really ruin your evening in the yard...
Sounds like a good useful place for one..My gramma had a house in Las Vegas
that had a beautiful big window over the french doors out to the patio from
her bedroom, but there was a street light behind it which shined in..My
uncle planted some sort of pine tree back there to block it off which it did
pretty fast..Over the years it practically took over the entire back yard!!!
I need to find some fast growing shade trees for my folks. We just moved
them into a house in the Pine Forest in Bastrop, but they have no trees in
the front and they face west and the living areas are on that side and they
get a bit warm in summer..Been looking for something that would grow
somewhat fast and not be too hard to keep up..Was thinking of Bradford pears
(?) but don't know how fast they grow..She wanted a china berry, but I told
her even though they were well loved in Las Vegas(they grow great there),
they don't like them here. There are wild ones all over the place out there
as they appear to easily reseed themselves..So I don't want to put an
invasive tree on purpose out there..Any recommendations?? I am all ears for
help for her yard..Could easily put two to three across the front to lessen
the sun bake in the summer...
Thanks!!!
John

"escape" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 11 Apr 2005 13:42:22 -0500, "John"
opined:


I don't blame you for wanting to block out that darn street light..Those
things can really ruin your evening in the yard...
Sounds like a good useful place for one..My gramma had a house in Las
Vegas
that had a beautiful big window over the french doors out to the patio
from
her bedroom, but there was a street light behind it which shined in..My
uncle planted some sort of pine tree back there to block it off which it
did
pretty fast..Over the years it practically took over the entire back
yard!!!
I need to find some fast growing shade trees for my folks. We just moved
them into a house in the Pine Forest in Bastrop, but they have no trees in
the front and they face west and the living areas are on that side and
they
get a bit warm in summer..Been looking for something that would grow
somewhat fast and not be too hard to keep up..Was thinking of Bradford
pears
(?) but don't know how fast they grow..She wanted a china berry, but I
told
her even though they were well loved in Las Vegas(they grow great there),
they don't like them here. There are wild ones all over the place out
there
as they appear to easily reseed themselves..So I don't want to put an
invasive tree on purpose out there..Any recommendations?? I am all ears
for
help for her yard..Could easily put two to three across the front to
lessen
the sun bake in the summer...
Thanks!!!
John


To be perfectly honest I would never plant a Chinaberry or Bradford pear.
Bradford pear is not a shade tree as it grows in an upright form. It is
also
famous for having horrible trouble in high winds where literally half the
tree
will rip off. It has a very poor crotch where it easily breaks off and it
attracts boat tail grackles...do not use! My suggestion is for you to
choose
native trees to the area.

Take a gander into Kimas Tejas garden center. I believe it's over there
by
where your parents live. They have an outstanding selection of trees.

You are far better off planting hardwood trees which grow moderately, than
fast
growing trees. I have planted some trees on our property in conjunction
with
the native Live Oaks. They a

Chinese pistache
Texas redbud
Peach 'Dixieland' which grows very fast and bears delicious fruit
Ginkgo biloba
Vitex castus agnus
Burr oak
Parkinsonia aka palo verde (very loose tree, not dense shade by very rapid
growth)
Little leaf sumac
Flameleaf sumac


I hope that gives you a start.


Great list!
Thanks so much..I didn't know all that about the Bradford pears..I just know
they are sure pretty and nicely shaped..Didn't know they were weak..The
indigenous tree to the area is Loblolly pine and some Blackjack oak, but mom
said she would like something she can enjoy in this life! :-) She has quite
the sense of humor...Will stop out there at Kimas, your correct it's about
five minutes from their house..We have been out there several times but was
prior to their spring shipment.
Thanks again!
John

You are far better off planting hardwood trees which grow moderately, than
fast
growing trees. I have planted some trees on our property in conjunction
with
the native Live Oaks. They a

Chinese pistache
Texas redbud
Peach 'Dixieland' which grows very fast and bears delicious fruit
Ginkgo biloba
Vitex castus agnus
Burr oak
Parkinsonia aka palo verde (very loose tree, not dense shade by very rapid
growth)
Little leaf sumac
Flameleaf sumac

Thank you for the list. I was considering getting a paulownia until I read
the part about wilting. It gets SO hot and SO dry here (Houston area) in
late summer that it might not be a good choice. I'm going to have to look
harder for a native plant nursery in this area.

I put a Chinese pistachio out front. I like the tree, but it still hasn't
leafed out, while all the live oaks and such are green and pretty. Might
not have been the best choice for the front yard.

Another tree I've been wondering about is the Chinese parasol tree (Firmiana
simplex or platanifolia.) It's categorized as a tropical or tender
perennial. Has anyone tried one? I'm planting mine in the front side yard
where it stays a lot warmer and doesn't get the cold winds in winter in hope
that it will survive.

Cindy

If you want to play with species outside our native lists, fine, but make
sure
it's not something invasive to wetlands, or potentially forcing out native
species of plants, and be sure to select things which are not going to
reduce
native habitat for the fauna in your area. They are still selling purple
loosetrife at Red Barn Garden Center. When I told the manager about it
and that
it's illegal in Texas, she said it was a different loosetrife. Uh, no, it
was
not different. THAT is irresponsible, IMO.

Very good point! I was looking at it like, if it dies I'll be out $10 and a
year or two, but it could be a problem.
Good God, I can't believe anyplace sells loosestrife anymore! They've been
trying to eradicate it in Montana for many years.

Cindy

escape wrote:

On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 18:17:22 GMT, "Cindy" opined:



If you want to play with species outside our native lists, fine, but make
sure
it's not something invasive to wetlands, or potentially forcing out native
species of plants, and be sure to select things which are not going to
reduce
native habitat for the fauna in your area. They are still selling purple
loosetrife at Red Barn Garden Center. When I told the manager about it
and that
it's illegal in Texas, she said it was a different loosetrife. Uh, no, it
was
not different. THAT is irresponsible, IMO.


Very good point! I was looking at it like, if it dies I'll be out $10 and a
year or two, but it could be a problem.
Good God, I can't believe anyplace sells loosestrife anymore! They've been
trying to eradicate it in Montana for many years.

Cindy




I know, it's hard to believe this manager is still working there.


I *really* hate to ask, but has anybody got a link to a site telling us
that loosestrife is illegal? I'm sure not finding it.

Peace.

DT
http://www.thehungersite.com/

I *really* hate to ask, but has anybody got a link to a site telling us
that loosestrife is illegal? I'm sure not finding it.

I don't. I grew up a farmer in Montana, and as such learned at my daddy's
knee about noxious weeds, including garden flowers that escaped cultivation
and caused problems. Loosestrife has a beautiful flower, and it also takes
over swamps and wetlands. Big no-no.