YouTube is full of videos on your topic. Just google it.

Don't know your location but you should be aware that Paulownia tomentosa is considered an invasive species in many parts of the country. Is this the best choice for your area?

Growing paulownia is incredibly irresponsible. Just don't.

@cecily 7A - Let's agree to disagree. While it may be deemed "invasive", it's not illegal to grow here in Canada.

This form of elitism isn't new. I see the same thing almost daily, in the canine world. I'm a member of several Labrador Retriever Facebook Groups. The official (recognized) colours of this breed are black, yellow & chocolate. I have a chocolate myself. But heaven forbid if someone posts a picture of a red, silver or a grey Labrador Retriever. The world goes nuts. Suddenly people become nasty & the cheap shots just come flying left, right & centre.

There's beauty in the Paulownia Tomentosa, just as there's beauty in Canadian Goldenrod and/or a red Labrador Retriever.

Hi yms 1975,

The other posters are right about Paulownia being notoriously invasive, I won't beleaguer the point.

I garden in pots on my rooftop in a city, so there was a very low potential for invasiveness and I gave Paulownia seeds a try a couple years ago.

Recap:

The seeds germinate very easily, I put mine in a moist paper towel and it was very quick.

I kept only one seedling and was blown away by how fast it outgrew any pot I transplanted it to . The roots are really, really impressive.

According to what I had read, after the first year you're supposed to cut it back flush to the soil. Don't worry it will regrow fast. If multitrunk comes up select one, unless you like the multitrunk look. The idea behind cutting it down is it will make a better trunk once it has a bigger root system than the one it started with.

Around 18 months after germination I ended up getting rid of my Paulownia, because it was just getting totally out of control huge.

Looking back, I have no idea what possessed me to think I should grow such a beast in a pot.

There is nothing "elitist" about advising one of the very real potential of an ecological threat. Not at all the same situation as an off color Labrador retriever!

@seasiderooftop Just curious. What size pot did you grow it in? That's an option I might consider. It certainly would contain the invasive nature of said beast. But I would think the pot size would have to be pretty large, given how tall these trees grow up to.

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) But it is a form of elitism. If you choose to focus solely on a negative point about the tree, while turning a blind eye to it's positive attributes, then yes....this is a form of elitism.

The Paulownia Tomentosa does have a powerful, positive impact on our environment.

Why You Should Fall In Love With Paulownia (Empress) & Help Change The World With World Tree

I kept potting up into bigger pots, from a yogurt container until I reached a 40 liter pot. Then tried root pruning to contain it there in an effort to dwarf it. That was when I had to admit defeat. The roots can't be contained. They will grow back and out of the the pot at a speed that's just unlike anything I have grown. And the videos don't lie: the tree gets incredibly tall, incredibly fast.

However, the invasiveness doesn't come from the roots. It's the seeds. As you can observe, they have little winglets, they carry on the wind, germinate easy and populate everywhere. I disposed of mine before it bloomed. If you wanted to limit invasiveness you would have to somehow remove all blooms, which is a shame because they're so beautiful.

LOL!! yms1975, there are many more issues with Paulownia than just the invasive aspect - which btw is global in its scope and not to be denied - and I sure would not put much stock in some loopy YouTube video to determine the facts.

You seem to be determined to proliferate this brittle, weak limbed tree so you will do whatever you feel is appropriate despite the advice given. But there is NO elitism involved in my argument or that of the others that have warned of its issues. It is just fact.

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) " You seem to be determined to proliferate this brittle, weak limbed tree so you will do whatever you feel is appropriate..."

Not at all my friend. I am an open minded individual. I hope you didn't take offense to my position on this tree.

I am, however, of the opinion that elitism does play a great role in how this tree is perceived. I am of the opinion that we must always examine, both the negative & positive of each side of said argument.

check out previous thread on this topic.

There are only 2 of these trees in the woods of the property of my workplace and they definitely grew there as volunteers but not visibly invasive. At least no where near as ailanthus or norway maples. Heck I see more pyrus calleriana seedlings than paulonias. This is just from my observation though and it may depend on where the tree is growing.

@Heruga (7a Northern NJ) I think it also has to do with the cultivar as well. What really caught my eye about this particular tree, is its positive impact on the environment.

So, they are really easy from seed but are really best sown in autumn, to allow for stratification (although really fresh seed can be sown at once and will germinate in a coupla weeks). As for light, yes, they do benefit from not being covered so I sow them in chickgrit, which allows forboth light and moisture. Alternatively, topdress with alight covering of vermiculite. Once they get going, they are fast and best grown without a check, so keep them at around 12C until planting out.. Depending on your zone, I would keep the saplings in pots for the first year at least as they can be quite fragile (due to growth rate, I think).

A really popular way to grow these in the UK is to coppice them every year, giving rise to enormous, softly hairy and very architectural foliage. The 'hardy tropical' style of gardening makes immense use of tetrapanax, fatsia, musa and also coppiced paulownia and catalpa.

I recognise the concern around invasive plants but also feel that we could all be a little bit less opinionated because gardening, like art, has no limits on innovation, invention and creativity. The moment we sow a seed, we are already accepting artifice. A garden is an ongoing dialogue and endlessly changing project.

And yet Sam, we see exactly the same destructive tendencies with buddleja davidii, here in the UK. (and ailanthus, increasingly)...while buddleja is a hugely desirable plant with many fans in the US. I wouldn't plant one (in fact have had to take chainsaw and brushkiller to another wall destroyer just this week)...but am not getting irate with people who do want to grow it...not least because their conditions may be hugely different to mine where buddleja is not the dreadful pest it is here. Context is all, as are methods of use, civic responsibility, recognition of ecosystems and willingness to acknowledge difference while promoting diversity and beauty. We all have a role to play with no one voice dominating the narrative.

".while buddleja is a hugely desirable plant with many fans in the US."

And yet, it is also a recognized and listed invasive species here in many areas and with the sales of any non-sterile varieties prohibited in some locations.

" Context is all, as are methods of use, civic responsibility, recognition of ecosystems and willingness to acknowledge difference while promoting diversity and beauty. "

Exactly!! And that's why each state has its own listing of invasive species (as does CA) as location matters. But in the same vein as denying climate change, the proliferation of invasive species - and not just plants - is a very real and very large ecological AND economic threat. Global costs of dealing with invasive plants approximates $2 billion annually due to crop losses and removal efforts. Heck, in RP's UK, you can't even get a mortgage if Japanese knotweed is found on the property!!

I don't believe it is to anyone's benefit to treat the issue lightly. It is incumbent on ALL gardeners to consider the future ramifications of what they are planting and if there is a potential for invasiveness, plant something else.

So are you saying that paulownias are on a notifiable list in every state? It is increasingly grown as a street tree here in the UK. I agree that knowledge of what we are planting is always worthwhile but feel increasingly uncomfortable with polarised positions used to apply to all. Might just be a response to the creeping authoritarian populism which passes for government, these days. I dunno.

Anyway, tHere are a few plants which are illegal to propagate and yep, Japanese knotweed is one. It isn't strictly true that you cannot get a mortgage with it on your property as with all these things,there are caveats...not least a definite whiff of profiteering after a single legal precedent was used to establish a law which a heap of pest control companies gleefully exploited. While there are a few mortgage lenders which remain cautious, the moral panic in urban property exchanges has diminished...which is not to say that it isn't a tremendous problem in rural and unmanaged locations (it is) we just don't have anything like as much'wilderness' in the UK and most of the problematic species have generally been riverine.

Yep, it's a tricky one, isn't it? In fairness, I am not that keen on seeing Paulownias appearing around my hometown because they are problematic inasmuch as like any fast-growing tree, there will be a cost - stability and strength and worse, our town planning dept. is woefully lacking in horticultural rigour with a tendency to go for the fashionable quick fix. There has been expensive and widescale removal of another of these fashionably popular trees ( rose acacia - robinia hispida ) after generally failing to endure the hurly-burly of urban street life...and I don't think Paulownias are going to be exempt from this either, in the next decade or so...but you know, that line between 'fact' and 'opinion' is often very blurred and we do tend to make sweeping statements on the internet. I know I do - I am not one whit less opinionated or lippy than I have ever been...just a tad more circumspect - possibly because the more I learn, the more I realise I 'know' sod-all.

I absolutely abhor the whole 'culture wars' around 'woke', 'free speech', nationalism etc. and the insane attempts to categorise every aspect of life in terms of ideological purity with a 'with us or against us' mentality.