This weird looking, extremely tall plant has been growing in my garden for the past few months. Does anybody what it is? It’s leaf looks a bit like velvet leaf or squash but much bigger. The stem is thick too. It has not yet flowered. I also touched it and ate tomatoes after and have not yet died, so I’m hoping it’s not poisonous. Now I’m posting the photo on the forum and hoping an really awesome plant expert can tell me what it is? Thank you very much in advance!
It is Paulownia tomentosa...a very fast growing gorgeous flowering tree. Sadly it is considered an invasive sp in parts of USA. Paulownia tomentosa - Google Search Ooops! Forgot my manners. Welcome to UBC forums!
If you cut it back every year, it will not flower and will continue to have large leaves like that. If you let it grow into a tree, it will have much smaller leaves, though they would still be at least the size of your hand. But if it flowers, it will get fruits that release winged seeds that will be happy to start growing almost anywhere.
Thank you Silver surfer and wcutler. You guys are awesome. I think I will dig it out while it's still not too crazily big. I don't want it to grow to 10 ft tall since my back yard is quiet small. I'm thinking of transfer it to a large pot to keep on the balcony. Hopefully it will survive. I know I should destroy it since it's an invasive species, but I don't have the heart to kill it. I wasn't able to cut it down when I though it maybe a poisonous weed. Now that I know it's a beautiful flowering tree, it is more difficult.
I was going to say that if you keep cutting it down every year (to maybe about 30 cm) to keep it from flowering, then it won't create seeds, so won't be invasive. But it does create suckers when you do that. It is not supposed to be all that weedy in Vancouver. People do have them, and there don't seem to be jungles of them. I think it would be too vigorous for a pot - it is one of the fastest growing deciduous trees around here. Here is a photo of two that get cut down each year near the entrance to the golf course in Stanley Park, one on each side of the photo.
They are not really invasive in this region. There are several planted here at the Garden. They appear from seed occasionally, but it is not common for them to survive here.
I know Eric is right about this, but still, I will do a little campaign against them. Here are some photos from four years ago from the Stanley Park seawall near the path to the Aquarium. They are obviously a little weedy in this particular setting. It would be really bad luck for yours to start behaving like this. On the other hand, you can see that the main one here is not such a lovely tree; they are easily damaged and have substantial roots. If you are looking for a tree in your small garden, there are other smaller trees that might be more suitable. Just because it was free doesn't mean that it's something you should want to have.
Nooooo. I kind hope it would flower, because I looked at the photos and the purple flower look so beautiful. I was hoping by keeping it in a pot it won’t grow too big but will still flower with enough love, care and most importantly fertilizer. Don’t know if this will work, but I can always dream. If it’s small and short I can just cut off the flowers when they wilted so no seeds will produced. It will take more work but the I really want this magnificent purple flowering tree in my yard
You know, that photo is colour enhanced, right? It is not going to look like that in your yard. No harm in investigating what a tree that wants to grow three feet in a year will do a pot, though - post photos here to let us know how it worked out. You can read lots of comments at PlantFiles: Paulownia Species, Empress Tree, Princess Tree, many from areas where it does get out of control.
Sorry but tree has to be quite large/huge before it flowers. Kept small you will get get enormous leaves...but sadly no flowers. This was our tree in UK.
I want to show JasmineTea what is going on just outside UBCBG garden. Under one of the Paulownia trees is this group of new plants. I suppose these could either be seedlings or could be from the roots. I'm not good at judging heights - these are maybe 3m tall and don't appear to have flowered this year. These other individuals are quite a distance from the tree. It may well be that they will not survive. There is a lot of competition in this area, particularly from European blackberries, but once they have pushed above the blackberry cover, shouldn't they be on their way to surviving?
