Re: Empress Splendor Tree

**y*@sfo.com**

Isn't this the one that's been advertised in Sunday supplements along 
with "tree tomatoes" and other miracle plants? I had the impression 
these were simply marketing campaigns. For people who haven't had 
much growing experience, lots of plants can seem to be miracle plants 
-- flower a lot, produce lots of fruit, emerge from a seemingly inert 
bulb, etc. (My miracle plant of the week is my lilac, which I started 
from a 6-inch cutting and is about to bloom!)

It's not that hard to make a plant sound like a miracle. I freecycled 
some seeds of a native wildflower I was growing a couple years ago, 
and I inadvertently talked it up so much that one of the people who 
came to collect seeds asked me about my "miracle" plant.

Eucalyptus was touted as a miracle tree when it was planted all over 
California in the late 19th and early 20th century. Some of the hype 
claimed it was like planting a money tree because it grew so fast and 
produced so much lumber. Problem was, the wood was useless as lumber 
-- wrong species!

Tanya Kucak

At 2:56 PM -0300 3/25/09, Jodi DeLong wrote:
>Hi from snow-scoured Nova Scotia:
>
>A magazine where I am an editor received a press release today about
>this miracle tree called the Empress Splendor (tm), and I'm trying to
>find some useful information about it that isn't hype.
>
>According to the press release, it's a sterile clone of Paulownia that
>is hardy to zone 6, will produce a great deal of growth, gonna offset
>greenhouse gases, gonna save the hardwood industry... it sounds to me
>like it's too good to be true, but I don't have any empirical data or
>anyone with real experience (nameless handles on fora don't inspire
>trust in me when I see comments from them.
>
>Anyone know anything about these?
>
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