Usually the foxglove tree, Paulownia tomentosa gets highlighted in the summer due to its fast growth rate and ability to produce really large leaves after being stooled in the spring. Occasionally it gets a moment of glory too in late winter till early spring when they get a chance to show off their foxglove like blooms (hence the name), which only happens if the buds don't get frosted away first.
Not a tree that is usually featured in the autumn but Loree of Danger Garden who hosts the Favourite Plant of the Week meme has named this as her favorite this week. Rightfully so as her specimen has performed really well and is still looking great at the moment.
Ours however is very much doing its autumn thing already, going deciduous and shedding its leaves all over. After reading Loree's blog though it made me appreciate this plant for the same reasons she has mentioned, especially with regards to the speed of its growth.
And speedy it is for the relatively large tree that we have now towering over our garden was grown from seed and planted out as a small seedling only seven years ago.
Our intention at first was to stool it to get those massive leaves in the summer but left to grow as normal the leaves they produce are reasonably big already so we just let it be. We may not get the gigantic summer leaves but what we have now is a rather handsome tree.
Stool almost to the ground in spring and let one bud get going and it will produce gigantic leaves. This one at Don's garden
Which reminds me we have another type of foxglove tree that we bought from Beeches Nursery earlier in the year, Paulownia kawakamii. It looks very similar, almost indistinguishable from P. tomentosa until you touch the leaves of the former which is sticky. We haven't decided yet where to plant it so for now it lives inside the large vase in the jungle area of the garden.
Paulownia kawakamii can be stooled too
Sticky leaves!
A fabulous tree, it should be grown in more gardens!Mark :-)
