Forcing Paulownia

Nearly 20 years ago, I succumbed to the pretty pictures and purchased an
Empress Tree, Paulownia tomentosa.  It grows along the eastern edge of my
property and has grown into an interesting, if not exactly pretty tree.  For
the pass 10 years, it dutifully produces large clusters of flower buds in
the fall, which are sort of interesting over the winter in their own right.

Not surprisingly, the -10F of our winters here in SE Wisconsin routinely
kills virtually all the flower buds, although I did spot a couple of errant
flowers a few years ago.  I keep waiting for 3global warming2 to kick in
sufficiently that we might have a winter without sub-zero temperatures, but
I realize that is would simply be serendipity.

I have two questions:  First, for those of you who might grow this tree,
what is the lowest temperature at which the flower buds won9t winter-kill?
Second, is there any way that these bud clusters could be picked in the fall
or even early winter before really cold temperatures set in and 3forced2 to
bloom?


Don Martinson
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mailto:llmen@wi.rr.com

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