Could anyone tell me when the best time would be to cut back a Paulownia, Autumn or spring, we would liked to have let it get big enough to Flower but it is outgrowing the space we have for it.

Shirley

If you want to get enormous leaves next year, cut back in the spring.

Thankyou, will do that.

Shirley

"Shirleyp" wrote in message
...

Could anyone tell me when the best time would be to cut back a
Paulownia, Autumn or spring, we would liked to have let it get big
enough to Flower but it is outgrowing the space we have for it.

Neighbours Pawlonia is becoming more controlled after he "pruned" (read that
as hacked the f*** out of it with a pad saw!) it last autumn.

In first 2 years it grew steadily in all directions with leaves as large as
a sheet of A3 paper ! This last season it seems to have grown in a more
controlled manner and has yet to flower.

Some really good articles on the interweb about them.

Shirleyp wrote:
Could anyone tell me when the best time would be to cut back a
Paulownia, Autumn or spring, we would liked to have let it get big
enough to Flower but it is outgrowing the space we have for it.

Shirley

If you want it to flower the one thing you don't want to do is cut it back!
The only reason for cutting it back (or, rather, coppicing it) is to
encourage it to produce very big leaves on one or two stems. If you want
flowers you'll have to leave it to grow into a small tree (3+ metres in
height).

--
Jeff

If you want a flowering Pawlonia in your garden you need a lot of space. Allow an area at least 30 feet across, I'd say. It has huge leaves, casts dense shade, so there isn't much you can underplant it with, so it takes up lots of space. If you want a flowering tree and haven't got that much space, then you can't realistically expect to have a flowering Pawlonia, there are plenty of other choices.

It won't flower at all if you prune it back, full stop. They flower on mature wood, and not at all (or not very much) when they are small. No doubt if it was already flowering size you could judiciously cut a few bits out. But in general if you prune it back it won't flower the next year, whatever time of year you prune it. The people who cut it back hard each spring grow them for the "jungley" leaves, not the flowers.

I used to live in a first-floor room with Pawlonia "just outside" my window, except that the trunk was at least 20 feet away from the building, because it has such a spreading crown. But this was the best spot to see the flowers, they aren't so visible from below. So people often recommend you plant them on the lower part of a slope, so that people walking past on the upper part of the slope can see the flowers.

"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
...
Shirleyp wrote:
Could anyone tell me when the best time would be to cut back a
Paulownia, Autumn or spring, we would liked to have let it get big
enough to Flower but it is outgrowing the space we have for it.

Shirley

If you want it to flower the one thing you don't want to do is cut it
back! The only reason for cutting it back (or, rather, coppicing it) is to
encourage it to produce very big leaves on one or two stems. If you want
flowers you'll have to leave it to grow into a small tree (3+ metres in
height).


http://www.paulowniasupply.com/index.htm

Thankyou Jeff, the space we have means we will not be able to let it Flower but we like the large leaves anyway so we will cut it back and hope it stays whitin the space we have.

Shirley