Paulownia
Paulownia tomentosa
Huge leaves that tear in wind and flower buds that frost takes — worth the gamble only in a sheltered, sunny spot.
- Type
- Tree · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Foliage color
- Green · Silver and gray
- Flower color
- Purple and violet
- Sunlight
- Nothing short of full sun will do.
- Watering
- Once established it copes with drought unaided.
- Feeding
- On fertile soil it rarely needs feeding at all.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- April
- Pruning
- Prune late in winter, while it is still fully dormant.
- Overwintering
- Takes -15 C once established.
- Apr–Apr Flowering
- Apr–Oct Bud Break
- Oct–Dec Leaf Fall
- Jan–Apr Leaf Fall
- Plant spacing
- 26 ft 3 in
- In-row spacing
- 26 ft 3 in
- Between rows
- 32 ft 10 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
- Root system
- Woody, shallow, wide and opportunistic
- Working depth
- 12–24 in
- Can reach
- 3.5 ft down where the soil allows
- Spread
- 79–105 ft across, about 3–4× the width of the plant
These roots go looking, and what they find is drains, soakaways, footings, paving and the border next door. Give it real distance from anything you would mind being lifted or blocked: the reach below ground is several times what the crown suggests.
One of the fastest-growing trees there is, and the roots keep pace: it suckers vigorously, resprouts from any cut root, and seeds itself by the million. It is treated as invasive across much of eastern North America.
The habit is Paulownia’s own; the figures are what that habit usually comes to at this size, not a measurement of this species. Roots follow the soil either way: a compacted pan, a high water table or heavy clay stops them well short of any of it, and deep open ground lets them go further.
- Honey fungus Honey fungus at the roots
- Virus diseases Paulownia witches' broom virus
- Frost damage Frost damage to the flower buds
- Wind damage to those large leaves
Hostas, Ferns, Brunnera, Hellebores
Trees, like this one.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com