RE: Paulownia tomentosa
- Subject: RE: Paulownia tomentosa
- From: William Bade b*@Math.Berkeley.EDU
- Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 13:01:14 -0800 (PST)
UC Botanical Garden has good examples of Paulownia tomentosa growing near
the Japanese Pool. When taking a group of touring Japanese tourists
through the Garden, one of the women told me that it is customary to plant
a Paulownia (if the garden has room for it) in celebration of the birth of
a daughter. When that daughter marries, the tree is large enough to
harvest to make a wedding chest ( here we call this kind of chest 'tansu'
but I don't know if that is the right name) for her.
Elly Bade
On Fri, 15 Nov 2002, Nicholas Turland wrote:
> Joan,
>
> I think the problem with Paulownia in oceanic climates like the UK is not
> winter cold but not enough summer heat. (That's one reason I moved here...)
> I'm growing two trees here in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA (Zone 6), and last
> year their 3-4 foot (1 m) stems were fully exposed to at least 15F (-10C)
> without damage. However, we have hot summers from May/June through
> September, which I believe ripens the wood so it is more frost hardy when
> winter comes. The region where they originate in China (quite widespread)
> has a similar, slightly warmer climate.
>
> So, not feeding them too much might help (to stop the stems growing too
> soft), although they do like moisture and grow fast when they have it. I'm
> not sure if too much moisture would have the same effect as too much
> nitrogen. Maybe not. Yes, I would definitely consider lagging the stems with
> something insulating in winter, at least while you're trying to build up a
> framework of branches. Definitely don't cut them back, except to cut out any
> dead wood. When mine started leafing out this April, I rubbed out all the
> buds except the top two (all the nodes started growing shoots, the terminal
> bud being defunct). This seemed to work well and I now have two 17 foot (5
> m) trees forking from the top of last year's growth. It's amazing how fast
> they grow. After a while, the strongest shoots started to branch again
> naturally. Maybe "apical dominance" would have kicked in anyway had I not
> restricted each tree to two branches, and the lower sideshoots would have
> stopped developing?
>
> There's a park in St. Louis with several old trees of P. tomentosa, which
> are stunning in late April/early May when covered with flowers. They are
> deliciously scented too. We are just far enough north for the tree not to
> seed itself naturally; further south they can be a noxious weed, invading
> woodland, etc. I assume the seedlings are more vulnerable to winter cold
> than saplings and larger trees.
>
> Nick Turland
> Saint Louis, MO
> USDA Zone 6
>
