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Anyone try chitalpa on the east coast?

11 years ago

I'm thinking street tree in NJ. Plenty of radiant heat in the summer and higher pH soil but humid. Most of the posts about chitalpa are from drier parts of the country (AZ, NM, etc.). Has anyone had any luck with it on the east coast?

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Comments (7)

poaky1
11 years ago
If you mean Catalpa, we have a native eastern Catalpa. And I think there is another Catalpa, maybe native to the west. I am guessing, and THINK there is a western form. But I know there is an eastern catalpa tree, big heart shaped leaves, long greenbean looking seed pods in fall/ late winter.
poaky1
11 years ago
I thought it was a mispelling of Catalpa. After a websearch I see that there is a Chitalpa. My bad.
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salicaceae
11 years ago
x Chitalpa is a hybrid between Catalpa and Chilopsis. It is sometimes grown here in the SE, perhaps as far north as North Carolina. Give it a try, but expect dieback in colder winters.
scotjute Z8
11 years ago
Planted one last year. ~7.5 pH clay top-soil, well-drained. Watered it very little. It grew about 18". No blooms this year. Showed some signs of leaf tip withering.
Around here, both the parent plants, Desert Willow and Catalpa, grow fairly well. Catalpa tends to look a bit ragged by end of summer. Desert Willow seems to do real well. Wish now I had just planted Desert Willow.
Be sure to put Chiltalpa in well-drained area if you try it.
Embothrium
11 years ago
X Chitalpa tashkentensis was developed in Tashkent, Russia and introduced to this continent by the Cary Arboretum in New York. Much of the point of the thing is its ability to grow in severe situations, however, it has been found to do best in this country in the Southwest. There are quite a few of them in my area also, but we have a soft climate. Here the main point of interest is that it produces showy flowers all summer. Most independent outlets here had them for a time, but it seems to have been dropped. I noticed an ugly duckling appearance with young, retail nursery sized stock, including few branches and a tendency to develop foliage mildew - the latter probably due to the usual inadequately frequent watering as it is not conspicuous among established trees in the general landscape.

Another factor that may be involved is that trees in general have become a bit of a hard sell in the current retail market.
davidrt28 (zone 7)
11 years ago
I've heard it gets mildew in the Southeast. Not sure what will happen in NJ. Maybe give it a try with 1 before planting a whole street of them.

I have a Chilopsis (the SW parent) on a blazing hot, dry south wall, and it does just fine. Might get killed to the ground the very coldest winters, which might be a good thing.
metallurgist
11 years ago
We had one growing here in Lawrenceburg, TN (7a) for about 10 years with no problems. New owner of the house cut it down. It had beautiful, but sparse blooms all summer. Temperatures range from -10 to +100.

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